The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked many changes. Our normal lives are forever gone, and an unimaginable number of people have died worldwide. So how are we mourning the loved ones we have lost to this terrible virus? Well, that too has changed. In the United States, families have been prevented from paying their respects to their lost loved ones. The rituals of honoring and saying goodbye have been altered completely. In some states, only a small number of relatives are allowed to pay their respects while the rest are on Zoom video calls. In other states, local restrictions forbid gatherings to pay your respects to someone who has passed. As early as March 2020, Meri Dreyfuss, a tech worker in San Francisco, commented, “We can’t properly bury our dead because of the situation. We can’t mourn together, we can’t share memories together, we can’t get together and hug each other.” The hardships that these families have been put through is unbelievable. Without the opportunity to mourn your lost loved ones, one can never truly recover.

Funeral services have changed. Not only the number of attendees but also the number of funeral services is limited. The demand for funeral services and burials has caused some funeral homes to turn away grieving families. Some families are not able to mourn until months after their loved one’s death. Mortuaries and funeral homes in the United States have more bodies than they can store. Sometimes the mortuary must store bodies for weeks or months before services can be held. The United States is suffering in every aspect because of the coronavirus. The grieving families are not able to properly say goodbye or even grieve their loved ones. They have to live with the possibility that their lost loved one is not being cared for properly.

One thing is certain, family members should be honored. Our loved ones should not be stored in mortuaries for weeks. They should have proper burial services with every family member present. Unfortunately, proper burial services cannot occur. I feel that coronavirus is not going away any time soon, but we must persevere. We cannot give up on hope, we cannot give up on our families, and we must honor the ones who have passed. Although times are difficult, we must adapt to these new circumstances as we remember those we have lost.