Funeral homes passed over for vaccinations

Despite regular exposure to public, those who care for deceased not included in first two rounds of shots

While protection against the coronavirus is being rolled out in form of the vaccine, one important industry has been left out of the phases: death care.

Currently, Ohio is in Phase 1B of its vaccination programs which includes residents 80 and older. Also included in the current phase are those with severe congenital or developmental disorders.

Death care workers were not included in this phase or Phase 1A either, which consisted of health care workers and first responders.

The Ohio Funeral Directors Association (OFDA) released a statement on Friday, urging the Ohio Department of Health and Gov. Mike DeWine to ensure funeral directors and their employees be given immediate access to the vaccine.

Melissa Sullivan, executive director of the OFDA, said she believes death care workers were an oversight when it came to establishing the phases and importance of the vaccine program.

In federal framework released by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NAESM), the organization said morticians, funeral home workers and other death care professionals involved in handling bodies were to be included in the highest priority Phase 1A population of high-risk health care workers.

What ended up happening, was that the federal government tasked each state with creating their own plan and all the federal guidelines didn’t cross over.

“We felt very good about the federal victory that we advocated for. When we learned that the states were unfortunately burdened with creating their own plan, we quickly pivoted and started to communicate with the governor’s office,” said Sullivan. “For one, the need, but also what federal framework was recommending that identified death care with Phase 1A with other physicians and health care populations. We have sent numerous letters to the governor’s office trying to persuade them to acknowledge that recommendation from the federal level. Ohio is closely following the federal plans but they have overlooked the death care population.”

Sullivan explained the risks that funeral home workers take every day with their jobs.

“We wanted them [the state] to realize the multiple touch points that funeral directors encounter when they transfer the deceased into their care. From walking through the hos

pitals, up to a COVID floor, into the room, into nursing homes,” she said. “Now more than ever, individuals are dying in their own homes because they don’t want to go to a hospital and be alone.”

Funeral home workers are going into these homes where they are near family members who could have been exposed to the coronavirus.

“They’re exposed there, they’re exposed when they meet with their families to make arrangements and when they have services; even if they’re small services,” said Sullivan. “They still have multiple opportunities for exposure as well as potential spread if they’re in a funeral home setting. We need to protect funeral directors because of that.”

The risks are mitigated when wearing personal protective equipment, but the chance for exposure is there the whole way.

“Although some protection is provided through PPE, exposure continues as they prepare bodies for disposition, console surviving family members and greet those attending services,” the release stated. “Unlike most other public gatherings, Ohio placed no limits on attendance at funerals, forcing funeral home personnel to deal with large numbers of attendees, some of which do not comply with masking or social distance requirements.”

Also, when caring for the deceased, the National Institutes of Health have found that the virus can live on surfaces for hours or even days, which includes deceased bodies.

When funeral home directors are preparing bodies during embalming and for services, the chances of becoming exposed are all too real.

Sullivan said that the population for death care workers is a “small group” and the total comes out to around 3,000 people.

“It’s potentially under 3,000 once you take the number and subtract the 65 and older and subtract the ones who have already gotten the vaccine from crossover roles or other opportunities,” she said. “We think it’s a very small number that could be managed within the 1B population.”

With such a small community, Sullivan called the funeral home industry “strained” before the pandemic even began early last year.

“Now they have employees out with COVID or are quarantining and then they have the additional families that they need to help. I have funeral homes who are doing two times as much as what they typically do in a month’s time,” she said. “It’s hard to do that when you have a full staff, let alone with a compromised staff.”

No ill will was being placed on the government and other state health officials, said Sullivan, saying that she respects the leadership and what they’re doing, she’s just hopeful that an often overlooked industry can be seen during this difficult time.

“We’re hopeful, we really are. We need to keep these funeral home directors, embalmers and crematory workers healthy,” said Sullivan. “We do not have enough of a workforce to continue. We absolutely need to make sure we have enough of these individuals to continue to serve families.”