MARQUETTE — Due to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe,” order, funeral homes must conduct business with precaution, and some services will be conducted at a later date to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Funeral services are now limited to 10 people and funeral directors are working relentlessly across the state of Michigan to still provide services to families and help them during this challenging time, said Mathew Resch, spokesman for the Michigan Funeral Directors Association said.

As part of the essential workforce under the governor’s executive orders, funeral directors and funeral home employees are working with families to schedule services in the future to have a public event when the nation gets past the health crisis, Resch said, adding that some funeral homes are offering webcast services to extended family and friends so they can still pay their respects via live stream.

“The pandemic is certainly impacting funeral homes, especially in southeast Michigan. We’re finding that as more people pass away, obviously funeral homes are feeling the strain of working with families and handling those people,” Resch said. “At this point, it’s presenting challenges in working with families and helping them understand the guidelines … to put together a service or a gathering that meets those guidelines. So funeral directors are always having to work with families in very difficult situations and meet them where they are with those things and this is a new challenge for sure, but this is what they’re trained to do and they’re working with families however they find them.”

The MFDA is recommending funeral homes post a sign asking those with cold or flu symptoms to refrain from attending services to protect others, practice social distancing guidelines when seating mourners, limit access points to services to keep an accurate attendance count, place hand sanitizer at various stations during services, remind attendees to practice proper infection control precautions during the service and suspend food and beverage services in the funeral home.

Since March 23, Bjork & Zhulkie Funeral Home in Ishpeming has been continuing to work with families on an individual basis via phone or internet to help them during this difficult time, co-owner Tom Farley said. Funeral, graveside and memorial services can still be conducted but must be scheduled for a later date, he added.

Though Bjork & Zhulkie Funeral Home conducts business around the clock, the staff is only taking individual appointments at this time, Farley said.

“So we still are meeting the family’s needs. As someone passes away, we are currently trying to meet with the family either hopefully by internet, phone interviews, things of that nature, rather than person-to-person arrangements as much as possible,” Farley said. “We still have to take care of the deceased.”

Services are currently postponed in order to serve families who wish to have a public viewing at a later date, Farley said. Some funeral homes have been offering webcasting as a way to hold a public viewing, virtually and it’s something Bjork and Zhulkie may consider in the future, he added.

“We’re not able to service the people as we normally would but hopefully once this goes away, that life gets back to normal,” he said.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, it has implemented a limitation on foot traffic from the public and staff, closing its doors to the public and only having one staff member in at a time, Farley noted. People are still able to make arrangements to discuss services, but it must be made through email or phone.

Though Farley and countless others are hoping the virus doesn’t hit the Upper Peninsula as hard as other places in the nation, the funeral home has incorporated stepped-up universal precautions and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect the families it serves and its staff.

If a family had a person pass away who is COVID-19 positive, Farley noted that they could still have an open casket viewing and it wouldn’t stop the families from having a viewing at a later date.

Currently, quite a few people are going with cremation and holding a service at a later date due to the pandemic situation, he added.

Bjork & Zhulkie Funeral Home staff are not only taking social distancing measures seriously, they are sanitizing and cleaning the building more often, he said.

Operation hours are limited during this time and families are encouraged to text Farley at 906-362-9011 or co-owner Ken Farley at 906-360-3537. For other questions or concerns, call 906-486-8911 or email bandz@aol.com.

“Listen to all of the precautions out there. Wash your hands. Stay at home … It’s not a joke, it’s something that’s real and we got to make sure we do our part as a profession that we are keeping the public safe when we offer our type of services so everybody should do the same,” Farley said. “I guess this would go away sooner than later if everybody listened to the professionals with their advice.”

Jackie Jahfetson can be reached at jjahfetson@miningjournal.net.