With 80 deaths caused by Covid-19 in Washington County, including two last week, the pandemic has shown victims to be younger than normal, uniquely affecting the families of the victims and the funeral home industry.

“This is, unfortunately, a trend that’s not unique to Washington County. It’s happening everywhere,” said Washington County Covid-19 spokesman Roger Wickes. “A combination of unvaccinated status and comorbidities is still possibly lethal.”

Robert M. King Funeral Home in Granville is one of many funeral homes and businesses across the country that has had to adapt to the changes and restrictions brought on by the pandemic.

Funeral directors and owners Charlie and Mary King said safety and allowing those affected by the loss of a loved one to grieve properly are their number one priority.

“We are taught right out of the gate to handle everyone like they are contagious,” Mary King said. “It’s my job and I’m trained to remember that no matter how someone died, it’s still somebody’s loved one.”

King said she likes to wear gloves and a mask anyway out of safety concerns but pointed out needing to wear a Tyvek suit, the equivalent of a hazmat suit, when dealing with a Covid-19 victim.

Other than that, it has been “business as usual” when following universal precautions. The King’s said they have conducted around 20 processions and arrangements for Covid-19 victims.

Other changes to the system have seen arrangements made over the phone rather than an in-person conversation and “FaceTime” phone calls for a six-to-eight-month period to authorize the cremation of a body.

Although King said there was no real “wake-up call” to the pandemic’s severity and quantity of positive cases, she said it became very clear in January 2021 when an entire wing to a hospital was designated for Covid-19 patients. King added she and her husband have taken mental notes to trends in deaths, although they are not informed of a victim’s vaccination status when they take possession of the body.

“We tried to stay away from our family a lot and as many people as we could because we were exposed more than the average person,” she said. “You see it and you think about it, and yes, definitely. The Covid deaths the last couple of months have been much younger.”

A main ingredient missing in the eyes of King is the tradition of mourning.

“I think there’s a lot of grieving that didn’t happen,” King said. “I feel bad for the families impacted. They missed a lot of the grieving process, and it’s changed the funeral business.”

King explained that at King’s funeral home, calling hours are not allowed for a deceased Covid-19 body. Instead, close family members only are allowed to grieve with a closed casket because of the continuation of “Covid-air” being breathed in and out.

“We as an association (funeral home directors across New York State) talked about that quite a bit, and we decided that depending on the situation, no calling hours for a Covid body,” King said.

To counteract, King has encouraged family members who have lost a loved one to Covid-19 to hold celebration of life events and family gatherings outside so social distancing and the grieving process can be held simultaneously.

During calling hours for a non-Covid body, King has observed traditional signs of sympathy, handshaking and embracing one another, disappearing.

Wickes used a personal anecdote to describe how funerals and wakes have changed from two years ago.

“Having recently attended calling hours, it seemed very much the same, just with more distance and less personal contact,” he said. “I have not attended any large gatherings after a funeral. Remember, one of our first outbreaks way back at the beginning was at a funeral reception after the service. It’s unfortunate that human contact such as shaking hands and hugging can put people at risk.”

Wickes and King said the county and funeral directors mutually said both parties don’t communicate with each other often, if at all. King said most information comes from the state and the funeral association.

“I don’t believe that we have contact with any funeral directors,” Wickes said. “The State Health Department must have issued directives on handling, but chances are that when we get a report of a Covid-19 death through the system, the funeral preparations are already underway.”

Going forward, Wickes said the focus is on testing, vaccination and retaining the mindset that “we will get through this.

“We are concentrating on vaccination and testing at this point,” he said. “Using testing so that people know when to avoid others, along with vaccination, is our best way out of this at this point, or at least to lowering the rate of infection.

“I don’t think any of our team thinks that we will ever be completely free of coronavirus again. This may someday be relegated to the same status as the flu, but we want people to avoid the flu too by using the same handwashing techniques and by staying home if sick. What we’ve learned and tried to apply here should serve us well in the future both with existing viruses like flu and Covid-19, as well as anything else that may occur.”

King emphasized that although the times have changed and the word “normalcy” has been manipulated and twisted, it’s important to follow through the grieving process as long as the individual needs.

“Don’t forget to grieve properly for your loved one,” King said. “Maybe it’s going to look different, but don’t skip it. That person deserves it. They had a life that deserves to be celebrated.”

NYVTmedia’s attempts to speak with McClellan-Gariepy Funeral Home of Salem and Jillson’s Funeral Home of Whitehall went unanswered by press time.