In 2019, Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant and his deputies responded to 705 calls — a fairly typical year, he said.

In 2020, as of mid-day on Dec. 31, he had responded to nearly 950.

“There’s been days when we’ve had nine or 10 calls in the day,” he said. “That’s very unusual.”

Merchant, who has been coroner for more than a decade and also worked as a funeral director for 40 years before becoming full-time coroner two years ago, said Lowndes County is not alone. Coroners, funeral directors and others who deal with death in their day-to-day work have seen a sharp uptick in workload since the COVID-19 pandemic first gripped the nation in March.

“From my talking with other funeral directors — my brother’s also in a funeral-related industry down in Jackson — he said him talking to funeral director’s all over the state … everybody’s just busy, and it’s not slowing down,” said Caleb Pounders, funeral director at Lowndes Funeral Home in Columbus. “It’s the whole trend all over the state right now.”

While COVID-19 and complications related to it make up a very small fraction of the overall deaths, Merchant and Clay County Coroner Alvin Carter said they thought COVID-19 played a major part in the numbers being so much higher in 2020.

“I don’t think some of these people would have passed if it wasn’t for (COVID-19),” Carter said. “I am seeing some effects of it in the county and in the city.”

Merchant said he thinks some deferred medical treatment for other conditions due to fear of catching the virus at hospitals, allowing their medical conditions to become worse. Another part of the higher call volume specifically in Lowndes is that many people from out of town came to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle when hospitals in their own hometowns became overrun.

“Typically they’d be able to get medical care at their home, but because of the pandemic, their hospitals are overloaded,” Merchant said. “So they’re having to come here.”

The numbers in Clay County are up too, Carter said. His office responded to 165 calls as of Wednesday, compared to 119 in 2019.

In Lowndes County, Merchant said, the death rate had been creeping up every year. It was already up somewhat in January and February, but it “really picked up” starting in March.

“We’ve grown every year, but this year it’s, you know, five times (the previous growth),” he said.

Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt did not return calls and messages from The Dispatch asking about the number of Oktibbeha County deaths by press time. However, Bennie Hairston, who co-owns Hairston and Hairston Funeral Homes which has a Starkville office, said the numbers have increased there as well. He estimated his business handled arrangements for nearly 100 deaths in 2020, compared to 75 or 80 in 2019.

Other funeral homes are feeling the burden of increasing deaths as well. Pounders said in December alone, Lowndes Funeral Home handled arrangements for 40 services — the highest the funeral home has had in one month since it first opened its doors 23 years ago.

At Carter’s Funeral Services in Columbus, owner and funeral director Johnathan West estimated his business has seen a 35 percent uptick in the number of funeral arrangements it handled.

“We have truly seen a large volume of death,” Hairston said. “It’s much higher, ever since … right before March.”

Saying goodbye

In a year when the living have had to don masks and keep six feet away from those not in their immediate family in hopes of curbing the spread of COVID-19, death has been extremely hard for the loved ones left behind. Families miss the support of out-of-town visitors who can’t travel due to the pandemic, funeral directors have to force families to keep indoor services to a mere handful of guests and hospital staff have turned away cousins, distant relatives and close friends from the bedsides of those dying of COVID-19.

“We had no idea we were going to deal with this long,” said Jonathan Blackburn, chaplain and director of pastoral care at Baptist Memorial Hospital. “I’ve seen nurses with tears in their eyes because their patient was dying alone. It hits them, it hits the nurses, it hits our doctors pretty hard. They have families of their own and they understand what it’s like to lose someone.”

At Baptist, immediate family have been at the bedside of those dying of COVID only after donning full personal protective equipment. Other family members have talked to their loved ones through FaceTime.

“That’s been the hard thing for us, just to witness and be a part of,” Blackburn said. “I can see it with our staff too. They’re experiencing a degree of the heaviness that the family members are of someone that’s dying alone.”

Hairston, West and Pounders all said their funeral homes have dramatically increased the number of graveside services rather than traditional indoor services. An executive order by Gov. Tate Reeves has limited indoor gatherings in Mississippi to 10 people or fewer, which would include funeral staff, while outdoor gatherings — where it’s easier to social distance — can include up to 50 people. Funeral staff all said most families have been disappointed by the restrictions, but understand why they’re in place.

Even still, it’s a hard thing for families to deal with, they said.

“This year we have buried some pretty well-known people that (in) a normal year, they probably would have had hundreds of people attend their funeral,” Pounders said. “Whereas this year when they passed away, there was maybe 50. … Some people, especially older individuals or people that have pre-existing conditions and things like that, … they’re not going to a funeral.”

West said he knows of families that have lost multiple loved ones, and that everyone on his staff has also lost someone this year. In normal circumstances, he said, friends would have stopped by with food or shaken hands and given hugs even before the funeral.

“We’re pretty much left now with just … phone calls or prayers, but not that arm around that family,” he said.

The high numbers have also been hard on funeral staff, hospital staff, coroners’ deputies and everyone else who deals with death as part of their job. Merchant said he worries about his three deputies, who are not as used to death as he is.

“We deal with people on the very worst day of their life,” he said. “It’s hard seeing all these people in that situation. We try giving encouraging words, but death is among us.”

Blackburn credited the family-like bond between staff at Baptist with helping everyone cope with the pandemic and deaths it’s caused. He also said it should be a wake-up call to everyone to remember to show family and friends love before they pass away.

“I don’t want to sound sappy or cliche, but take advantage of every moment you have with your loved ones,” he said. “Why wait until the very end to say what that person really means to you? Just make that a habit of telling that person how much you love them, how much you appreciate them, because the way we die or pass, we’re not going to always have family around us to say what needs to be said.”

Hairston added another piece of advice: wear masks and social distance to help save lives.

“We as a whole, as people in our cities, people in our country, we should do everything we can to make sure that the person next to you is safe,” he said. “And how you do that is by wearing your mask, and I feel that people need to understand that you’re wearing your mask not only just for your safety and your health, but also for the person next to you. If we all could just do that for … a whole full year, it will definitely make a big impact.”

Merchant agreed that COVID is a fact of life for the time being, and that, combined with the large baby boomer generation getting older, means the death rate will probably continue to stay high for some time.

“COVID’s not going to mysteriously go away,” he said. “… It’s going to take a while to just work through that.”

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