PANDEMIC EFFECTS
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with family preferences. The impact of the widely lethal pandemic has presented challenges to the death care industry, just as it has to the population as a whole. COVID-19 places great demands upon death care industry members while also presenting challenges to staff via absenteeism due to illness and non- illness-related causes. Starting with deaths from January 20, 2020, and continuing to the present (as of August 2022), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has offered COVID assistance of up to $9,000 for funeral and burial expenses if the death certificate attributes the death to COVID-19 (call 844-684- 6333 or go to DisasterAssistance.gov). In April 2021, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) updated its public statement. It suggested that funeral homes release the following kind of information to its community. See the Appendix for sample news release. Since 2006, multiple federal laws have mandated that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) take steps to improve the nation's situational awareness of threats related to public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, HHS was required to establish a real-time electronic nationwide public health situational awareness capability through an interoperable network of systems. This network was to be used to facilitate early detection of and rapid responses to potentially catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks. More than 15 years after the law initially mandated it, the federal government does not yet have this needed situational awareness network capability. If this network had been available, it could have been used to provide vital information to better manage a timely COVID-19 response (United States Government Accountability Office, 2022).
COVID-19, which fully affected life and death in 2020, tested all funeral home preparations for a biological disaster. Cultural and political differences influenced how localities responded and are still responding to perceived changes in health and safety requirements. A 2011 study gauged the preparedness of the death care sector’s ability and willingness to report to duty for a hypothetical high fatality pandemic event. The respondents generally indicated their preparedness level as “suboptimal.” Greater than 80% of the respondents indicated they would be willing to report to work during an event such as a pandemic. The study also indicated a high prevalence of those in the death care sector whose ability and/or willingness would be hindered by secondary obligations (Gershon, 2011). The professionals of the death care industry are no different than most other members of the society. Familial obligations, safety, and risk are all factors that are and must be considered by anyone who volunteers to assist in the aftermath of an MFI. Until COVID-19, preconceived notions of potential MFIs were that they were weather- related events or terrorist attacks. The U.S. was placed at a heightened state of readiness and fear of an MFI in 2009– 2010, when the threat of the H1N1 pandemic was widely reported and caused great concern related to public health. Fortunately, this pandemic did not lead to mass fatalities, as had been feared. COVID-19 overwhelmed local response capabilities in numerous jurisdictions simultaneously. The COVID crisis demanded that funeral homes respond to quickly changing circumstances and requirements in terms of funeral preparation. More precautions were taken in terms of body preparation and funeral set-up to diminish the risks of passing on the virus throughout the mourning process. Funeral directors needed to finely balance rules from the
NECESSARY PREPARATIONS
Individual members of the death care industry, as well as individual funeral firms, can make preparations for potential MFIs. Although coordination and resources may be required from governmental and nongovernmental agencies, certain steps are necessary to place a firm in a state of readiness. The first is to know and understand what plans and preparations are in place for a particular jurisdiction, as well as neighboring jurisdictions. It may take a few phone calls to connect with the correct individual or department, but having a copy of the local plan is of utmost importance in preparing one’s firm.
Funeral directors and embalmers dedicate themselves to serving others, many times by sacrificing their own time and health. Mass fatality incidents are most often sudden and have no advance warning or time for preparation. Staff members and preselected members of organizations such as DMORT, and other emergency response teams, understand the requirement of little to no warning for deployment. This does not make rapid deployment any easier, but it does give them the ability to prepare in advance for the potential quick response. When an MFI requires funeral service professionals to respond, they must be not only prepared but willing to respond.
LOCAL MASS FATALITY INCIDENTS
For illustrative purposes, consider a small town in a rural area. An area such as this may be most accustomed to traditional natural deaths of citizens and occasional accidental deaths. If an event takes place that results in even a few deaths, this may be considered a mass fatality incident for that area. Even if the situation does not warrant an event being referred to as an MFI, local officials and death care industry professionals can respond to the aftermath similarly to how they would respond to an MFI.
The references to mass fatality incidents within this course have primarily referred to large numbers of fatalities from a single event or a single series of events. The number of deaths required to result in the use of plans is relative to the geographic location, the circumstances of the events, and those involved. Plans should be designed so they can be scaled to properly serve the situation at hand. If an area has a lower populous than a major metropolitan area, and has an event that results in a few deaths, the plan may be in excess of the normal response capabilities. It is important to remember that an MFI is defined as a situation in which the number of deaths exceeds the local jurisdiction’s response capabilities (Merrill et al., 2015).
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