As COVID-19 deaths surge, Windsor Essex funeral homes working overtime to help grieving families

As the COVID-19 death toll continues to rise, one local funeral home describes the situation as "soul-crushing." 

On Wednesday, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported 17 more COVID-19 deaths, bringing the regional total to 187 since the start of the pandemic. Every day for the last week, the health unit has reported more deaths from the disease.

In just nine days, 58 people have succumbed to the illness. The region has the third highest death rate at 41 per 100,000 people in the province, surpassed by Toronto and Ottawa. 

To keep up with this surge, Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj told CBC News Tuesday that it is using a temporary morgue outside one of its locations for 36 additional spaces. 

All of this death means that local funeral homes, which see the devastation from the community firsthand, have been busier than usual. 

"We work around the clock as needed in serving families at any time, day or night," Windsor Chapel CEO Scott Lockwood said. 

He told CBC News that since the start of December, Windsor Chapel has held funerals for 26 people that died due to COVID-19 or complications from the disease. 

This is in addition to the 70 deaths they usually accommodate per month. 

Lockwood said it is prepared to handle the increase based on measures it put in place back in the first wave of the pandemic. It's only now that those plans are being put into place as COVID-19 is having more of an impact. 

Though the Chapel is busy, Lockwood said his team is handling the surge and he feels they will continue to, even if things get worse. 

Transferring, preparing the bodies 

Despite people dying of COVID-19, Lockwood said the funeral home has precautions in place that allow them to transfer the body from its place of death, typically a long-term care home or hospital. 

When retrieving the body, staff wear personal protective equipment and sanitize the body bag before it is moved to the funeral home. 

They also embalm the body to allow family members to spend as much time as needed with their loved one before they are buried or cremated. 

At this time, only 10 people are allowed inside the building due to lockdown restrictions, but Lockwood said they are streaming the services online for those who can't attend. 

"At a time when coming together and gathering and leaning in on support is more important than ever, the death of a loved one, that's being restricted," he said. 

Managing director Sherri Tovell from Families First Funeral Home and Tribute Centre says the biggest shift during the pandemic is finding ways to best take care of the families who have lost loved ones. 

"These poor families have been told no so much, they haven't been able to be around their loved one, they haven't been able to do the things that they want to do before the death occurred and then they keep getting the 'no's' after the death," Tovell said.