Coronavirus Causing Unprecedented Strain On Funeral Homes As Death Toll Climbs: It's 'Unbearable'
WOODBURY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The coronavirus pandemic has put an intense strain on New York's funeral homes.
Many have seen the need for their services double or even triple.
CBS2's Tony Aiello visited one facility on Long Island that's doing its best under difficult conditions.
Behind Gutterman's Memorial Chapel in Woodbury, Aiello observed a heartbreaking cadence: A hearse leaves with a casket, and then a van arrives with another victim of COVID-19.
Manager Dominic Carella has spent 32 years at various funeral homes and supervised arrangements for Father Mychal Judge -- the first of 75 funerals he worked after 9/11.
"This is 10 times worse," Carella told Aiello. "The magnitude and the numbers is just unbearable."
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The chapel is now storage for a shipment of caskets. The facility in the basement can hold no more bodies.
"I spoke with one family yesterday that called every funeral home in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island and could not find a funeral home to accommodate their wishes," said Carella.
Carella said his industry takes pride in telling families "yes" to any request that helps memorialize a loved one.
"Now, we find ourselves in the position of saying 'no,'" he said.
That includes no service in the chapel and no large gatherings at the cemetery.
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Gutterman provides Shiva candles and mourning ribbons, but the human element is another coronavirus casualty.
"We hold their hands, we hug them," Carella said. "We can't do that, and it's difficult."
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The industry is under such stress volunteers, including one worker from a Nebraska funeral home, are coming to lend a hand.
"If someone asks for help, you help them," said Omaha volunteer Corey Starr. "It's just the values I grew up with."
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Carella thinks New York City could have done more to prepare residents for seeing the pandemic toll, with the National Guard called in to collect those who die at home.
"It's a painful topic. It's one I've said repeatedly I won't go into great detail on," Mayor Bill de Blasio said on April 4.
"I think the death part of what was going to happen in New York was placed on the back burner," said Carella.
Now, it's a sad reality. At funeral homes, the phones keep ringing, and the next hearse is ready for its load of sorrows.
