My wife and I happened to be staying on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the date of the Chinese New Year in 2020. . . that date was January 25, 2020.  I remember it vividly because as we came back to the hotel from dinner the Chinese New Year party was starting to begin. It was in the lobby of the hotel that night that I first heard of a mysterious, potentially, contagious disease coming out of China.

 

About five days later we boarded our non-stop flight to Minneapolis and for the first time in our lives remember using germicide tissues to wipe down our seats and tray tables.  So, that is where our pre-pandemic lives stopped. . . . since then I can sequence our lives in pandemic and post-pandemic segments.

 

Everybody has a story. . . . I don’t get too worried about what somebody might say is true and what might be seen as “hyperbole” or “conspiracy theories” when it comes to the pandemic or a lot of other things.  Quite frankly, while I was born in Minnesota, I maybe have a little “Missouri” in me as I’m really of the “Show Me” type of attitude before I just believe somebody’s words on a controversial subject.

 

I did, however, recently come across this video discussion about embalming pre- and post-pandemic.  It is entitled “An interview with embalmers around the world” and these embalmers believe that they have seen a difference during their care for the deceased in pre- and post-pandemic deaths.

 

I’m a licensed embalmer and enjoyed listening to the discussion.  My guess is that you will too.  Maybe these embalmers have experiences like you have had or maybe their experiences are different. . . .However, I found their thoughts and experiences very interesting.  I’ve taken no position on their claims, but as someone who has spent time in the prep room and visiting with medical examiners over the years, their subject matter was familiar to me.

 

The embalmers who have somewhat of a round-table discussion during the video include Richard Hirschman of the USA, John O’Looney of the United Kingdom, and Laura Jeffery of Canada.

 

A Differing Viewpoint —  Well-known trade embalmer Monica Torres has a different idea of why some of the embalmings during the pandemic might have seemed different.  You can read in this article that she believes the idea of larger clots that may have been witnessed by some embalmers came from long periods of refrigeration and not from the disease or the vaccinations as the panel discussion suggests.

 

Here is the website for Monica Torres’ business NXT Generation Mortuary Support.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• State regulators recommend funeral home professional licensing to legislators.  Video news story and print article.  KRDO – TV, Denver (CO)
• Obituary:  Thomas Gibson Blackstone, Girard, Ohio.
• Grave robbers raid Inland Empire cemetery of their flower arrangements.  Video news story and print article.  KNBC Channel 4, Los Angeles (CA)
• Man questions China funeral home for charging different cremation prices for “luxury” furnaces with tailor-made requests.  South China Morning Post (China)

 

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