With the COVID-19 pandemic putting stress on healthcare workers and first responders (not to mention the rest of us) what is it doing to local funeral homes and the people who staff them?

Deaths due to COVID in the first five months of the pandemic raised total deaths between 25 percent to 27 percent in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Between March 15 and August 15, Broward County recorded 1,638 deaths due to COVID-19. In Palm Beach County, numbers were similar, with 1,671 deaths. A five-month average for Palm Beach County, pre-COVID, is 6,182; for Broward, 6,361, according to state statistics.

Those aren’t complete figures, explains the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s office, because tracking COVID deaths after August 15 was taken away from coroners offices.

Thomas Wojciechowski, location manager at Babione Funeral Home in Boca Raton, which services all faiths, including Catholics, Protestants and some non-Orthodox Jewish families, says during these trying times, they have found ways to accommodate their clients.

“It’s a unique and challenging time,” says Wojciechowski, emphasizing that they follow all CDC guidelines, including social distancing, sanitizing, allowing only 10 attendees in the chapel at one time, and utilizing Zoom for inclusive ceremonies.

Luckily, Wojciechowski says, they didn’t experience much of an increase in deaths over the previous non-COVID year, partially because Palm Beach County wasn’t as hard hit as other counties, such as Miami-Dade.

Babione offers a “remember when” Zoom panel where people can comment in real-time, share photos, and connect with other grieving friends and family.

“People are lonely and alone,” Wojciechowski says. “We make every effort to include everyone who wants to participate.” Currently, they are planning larger-scale remembrances six months down the line, waiting for more conducive times. “Families find comfort in knowing they can come together in the near future.”

Babione and Wojciechowski were lucky that they experienced no shortages of supplies and Wojciechowski is heartened that his staff and community have come together.

“People are going the extra mile,” he says. “It restores your hope in people.”

On a personal level, he says some days are more trying than others and he turns to both his daughter and his dog for comfort. Additionally, he says, “I find comfort knowing I’m helping families remember their loved ones and celebrating their lives.”

With a large elderly population of Jewish seniors in Boca Raton, many of whom have ties to hard-hit New York, the Jewish funeral homes worked long and hard in the beginning of March.

Steven Kanowitz, 78, the funeral director at Gutterman’s, which has locations in Boca Raton and Long Island, NY, was in the thick of the pandemic. His staff worked from 7:30 am-12 midnight from March through July. “They got up in the dark and went home in the dark,” he said. “It was the toughest time we ever had.”

“The pandemic is a total heartbreak both for families and for our staff,” says  Kanowitz, who has been in the business for 60 years. “It’s always on my mind.”

He noted that many casket companies were stressed for inventory, and flight delays and cancelations had a big impact on the transport of bodies from Florida to New York.

“I had to stay in constant contact with families to make sure their loved ones arrived safely,” he remembers.

Kanowitz, who describes himself as a happy person in a sad business, said he has empathy for people who’ve lost their loved ones.

“You need to be sensitive and put yourself in other people’s shoes,” he says.

Not a stranger to disasters, Kanowitz worked with many families in New York after Sept. 11 and knew 22 people personally that he had to bury.

“But,” he says, “You can’t compare; the COVID-19 pandemic is the toughest time we’ve seen.”

Keith Kronish of Kronish Funeral Services adjacent to Century Village in Boca Raton had a similar experience.

As a designated essential worker, Kronish never shut down and worked from home. Following CDC guidelines and those of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), Kronish says funeral directors were quietly and respectfully taking care of their communities and doing everything they could.

“We worked around the clock, not by the clock,” he says.

He characterizes the difference between the virus’s impact in New York and Florida as the outbreak in New York was more acute, while the outbreak in Florida was more chronic. In New York, cemeteries, which usually accommodate six to eight burials a day had to do as many as 20.

“There’s not enough days in the week to accommodate all these burials,” Kronish says.

In some respects he said the virus has been an equalizer.

People of means who may have wanted to hire a private plane to fly their loved one home found that private planes didn’t accommodate caskets.

He recounts a sad story from one of the worst months of the outbreak. A traditionally observant family whose loved one died from the virus, had only the rabbi, the wife, and one of the three children at the gravesite service.

The other two children stayed in the car and in normal times, as many as 400 to 500 people could have been in attendance.

Despite the traditional Jewish prohibition of open caskets, Kronish said many families were comforted to view their loved ones in the casket for a last viewing.

“They want to know their loved one is at peace,” he
said.

Usually in Jewish tradition, there is a quick turnaround from the time of death to the time of burial, which was delayed by the circumstances, says Kronish.

Also, the traditional 7-day mourning period in Jewish tradition, known as the shivah, was canceled.

“Emotionally, this was very difficult for many families,” said Kronish.

“But, we adapted quickly,” he says. “We got very proficient on Zoom, our phones, and iPads and ordered enhanced camera and sound capabilities so that people in multiple states could participate in the services.”

On the other hand, Mike Sirowitz, director of the Beth-El Mausoleum in Boca Raton (the only mausoleum on the grounds of a synagogue in North America), said he has not seen a major increase in need over the past eight to nine months.

He estimates he’s had eight burials due to the virus.

However, like Wojciechowski at Babione, he says his numbers may not be a fair representation of the number of deaths, as the virus has hit harder in communities of color and lower socio-economic status.

He also notes that there was a parallel decrease in other causes of deaths, such as accidents (including car accidents) or heart attacks from playing sports, as people stayed home.

One change Sirowitz has seen is a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in pre-need sales. Usually, he says people are reluctant to prepare for this eventuality, but COVID-19 has brought the issue to the forefront.

“COVID-19 is a wake-up call for many and has created a sense of urgency,” he says.

With a vaccine on the horizon, things are looking up and spring offers new possibilities of hope.

“I don’t know when we will be through this, but I know we will come through it OK,” Wojciechowski says.

“People are feeling lonely and isolated in these trying times,” he says. “You can’t put a price on how much a hug means to someone when they’re grieving,” he says.

“I wish I could hug and console my clients,” says Wojciechowski. “I miss that and am looking forward to when I can hug them again.”