With a state-wide stay-at-home order and gathering ban of more than 50 people, Michiganders are finding it difficult to prepare funeral arrangements for their loved ones.
"Between the cemetery, the churches and with the executive order, that changes the way we can gather people," Steve Arsulowicz, funeral director at Arsulowicz Brothers Mortuaries, said.
While Michigan's temporary gather ban is for groups of more than 50 people, federal recommendations call for no more than 10. At Arsulowicz Brothers Mortuaries, the staff uses the latter as protocol when working with indoor event space.
"The visitation can occur indoors, it would be at our homes...but you’re only limited to 10 people to be able to come into the facility at a time. We do have private ceremony set for tomorrow that will be people... they'll be over 10, but they're going to come in in waves," Asulowicz explained.
Inside Arsulowicz Brothers' homes, the staff have placed areas designated for hand sanitizer and if families' choose to have seating during the funeral or visitation, the chairs are spaced apart.
Other establishments like Heritage Life Story Funeral Home, are also working to help families pay their respects. Similarly to Arsulowicz Brothers they are still providing indoor service and work with the loved ones of the deceased to stream the funeral online.
"If families want a little more of an interactive visitation, Zoom is a great way to go. If we want to just sort of record and people can witness that, you know Facebook live is a great way to go," Matt Hollebeek, Vice President of Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes, said.
While both organizations are offering online stream services and are accommodating families amidst the changing mandates, both funeral industry workers said they empathize with the families going through loss at this time.
"It’s hard enough to lose someone and now be told you can’t do something you want to. They’d come in, hug people, kiss people, shake hands and we’re like 'Whoa you can’t be doing that,' and that’s hard," Hollebeek said.
Arsulowicz echoed a similar sentiment, saying "Our industry says 'Sorry shared is sorrow diminished.' I know you have things for video, but there’s nothing like being in contact with the family."
While both organization said they haven't seen an influx in calls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they say it's an unfortunate possibility they're preparing for.
"We're just kind of waiting here for the next couple of weeks when we expect the coronavirus to really ramp up, and unfortunately deaths would occur from that," Hollebeek said.
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