BUTLER, Ga. — Funeral home directors are lobbying the state for specific guidelines covering memorial services.
A number of COVID-19 cases in southwest Georgia have been linked to funeral services. And although the pandemic has shut down much of the economy – the demand for funerals has not stopped.
A funeral procession this week marked the passage of an Oconee County commissioner, Bubber Wilkes. Dozens of cars were in it, commemorating the death of a man with a big public profile.
But Wilkes had no traditional funeral service, except with a small gathering at a gravesite.
"It can be very difficult and challenging for families to have to decide who will attend the services and who will not," said Patty Bentley, who co-owns a funeral home in Butler, a southwest Georgia town in Taylor County.
Bentley, who is also a Democratic state representative, says some people still want large funerals – even in a pandemic. And while the state of emergency in Georgia limits thick crowd sizes to 10 or less, she thinks funerals need specific attention in those guidelines.
A funeral directors association has written a letter to Gov. Kemp requesting rules that temporarily suspend all funeral services at chapels or other locations, while allowing limited graveside services.
Right now, Bentley says, the rules seem to be different in different counties – which confuses bereaved families.
"You have local governments, and some are doing things totally different. And it’s creating a lot of confusion and uncertainties for funeral directors, as we're trying to work with families during their most vulnerable time of their life," she said.
Bentley says her family’s south Georgia mortuary is in the planning stages now for the recently deceased pastor of a large church. State guidance, she says, can’t come soon enough.