Kevin Beaty, managing funeral director at A.F. Crow and Son Funeral Home, prepares funeral documents in the basement of the funeral home on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
GLASGOW, Ky. – Little was known about AIDS in the late 1980s, much like the current health crisis faced with the coronavirus.
Kevin Beaty was working as a young funeral apprentice in 1986 at A.F. Crow and Son Funeral Home when he embalmed someone diagnosed with AIDS or Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
“It was overwhelming – the fear that I had inside of me – because here in front of me was someone that had this virus that had put the whole world on hold,” Beaty said.
Beaty said the funeral home protected themselves with “AIDS kits.”
“It was nothing short of what a beekeeper would wear. I felt like I was fixing to step off the space shuttle onto the moon,” Beaty said. “We were covered from head to toe. It was suffocating.”
Technology has been beneficial during the coronavirus pandemic, serving as a modality for efficient communication. A fax machine and telephones were the extents of communication forms when the National Funeral Directors Association communicated news of AIDS.
Little is known about the transmission of COVID-19 after death, and some funeral homes choose to not complete preparatory work. Instead, those funeral homes allow others to complete the work of embalming and preparing a body before it is sent back to the funeral home.
Trevent Hayes, owner and operator of Hayes Brothers Funeral Home in Glasgow, said he does not embalm COVID-19 positive people due to his concern with contracting the virus. A Louisville-based service completes the work before the person’s funeral at Hayes Brothers funeral home.
“In order for me to keep doing business, I can’t expose myself,” Hayes said. “I’m the owner and operator here at the funeral home, and if I get exposed, or have to quarantine, then my entire funeral home has to close down.”
Beaty said A.F. Crow and Son has taken on more embalming since the onset of the pandemic. Because a “gray” area still exists, many funeral homes prefer to refrain from completing the work.
“It’s not been an issue here. Not to say, we’ve had numerous cases here,” Beaty said. “But as far as it being an issue with our employees, we’re following all the directives and all the health and safety guidelines that we’re handed down.”
A.F. Crow and Son Funeral Home averages 25 to 30 embalming each month, but the pandemic’s impact has increased the workload to over 300 for the entire year.
“It’s definitely not only affected in the world, in our country, but right here at home,” Beaty said. “The effect that this has taken on families, and I see it, is just gut-wrenching.”
Atop the health concerns are government mandates that limit the number of people in funeral homes.
Current stipulations mandate a limit of 25 people per funeral, and no more than those same 25 people may enter.
Because of unclear restrictions, many people have questioned the equality of the various mandates, and those in the funeral business are no different.
“It just doesn’t seem like a fair playing field,” Beaty said. “Not to say that I don’t understand it. I just have a hard time trying to convince and tell someone, ‘hey, you can’t do this, but you can do this.’”
While it’s unclear when humanity will see the decline of COVID-19, Beaty and Hayes agree that the impact of the pandemic will remain.
