Essential business remains ‘dedicated’ to area faithful

With small businesses across the Capital Region having shut their doors to the public as a result of nationwide social distancing to combat the spread of COVID-19, essentials remain open. Essential businesses include the obvious: supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations, and the obvious, but overlooked: funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries.

“We have to bury people, we can’t stop,” said Luke McGarry, cemetery director for St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands. “Even in this kind of climate with what’s going on in the world, I think it’s important that we still give people that closure and they can still come to the cemetery and bury their loved ones.”

While the Albany Diocesan Cemeteries — responsible for maintaining 19 cemeteries — won’t be shutting its doors, they’ve exercised every protocol they can to ensure the safety of its 50 staff members.

Following the diocesan rules, they’ve halved their office and grounds staff, rotating each group on a weekly basis. According to Jennifer Mele, director of communications for Albany Diocesan Cemeteries, in the past few weeks all cemeteries have conducted paperwork electronically, rather than at the time of the service.

“We have PPE equipment available for our staff that our staff are using; we have social distancing protocols in place, we have really taken a look at every aspect we do and have altered and made accommodations for safety, as far as everything we do,” Mele said.

The state has limited funerals to immediate family only under the New York State on PAUSE executive order signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“We need everyone to be safe. Otherwise no one can be safe,” Cuomo said when announcing the order.

“There hasn’t been much pushback from the families or the funeral homes in regard to that; people are being very respectful, services are much lighter than they would usually be,” Mele said, adding that for bigger services in the future, directors plan on ushering in small groups as needed to maintain social distancing, “but we really haven’t seen the need for that yet.”

Mele said office staff members meet only with immediate family members by appointment, handle any paperwork with latex gloves, don masks when in close proximity to others, and have even established a mail quarantine for how checks are to be handled. Grounds staff precautions are mirrored.

Previously, a crew would ride in the same truck to a remote location to do a burial. Now, each crew member gets assigned a vehicle for the week, equipped with Clorox wipes and Lysol spray. At the end of the week, each truck is washed down and then rotated to another worker.

“If you’re in the car with somebody, you’re three feet away from them, so we’re practicing social distancing as much as we possibly can.” McGarry said.

“We’re all using our hand sanitizers and washing our hands, of course, and we do have Clorox wipes too. They bring them with them, in the vehicle, so as they’re doing things they’re washing things down and making sure everything’s sanitized.”

The grounds crew has also cut out Saturdays from its schedule, and now operate on a five-day week.

Although all offices are closed to the public, phones are answered from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the grounds remain open for visits.

“We are as dedicated as ever for helping serve our families. The cemetery business is obviously an essential service, and so our primary focus over the last couple of weeks and what will continue to be our main focus is being able to continue servicing our families as needed in a safe and most comprehensive way,” Mele said, “for not only our families but also for our staff.”