FUNERAL FEAR IN JAMAICA: Two-week ban on burials not going down well with industry concerned about storage

BY KASEY WILLIAMS Observer staff reporter kaseyw@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, March 02, 2021

MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The two-week ban on burials imposed by the Government as it struggles to arrest a worrying spike in positive COVID-19 cases has drawn howls of protest from funeral directors fearful that they will run out of space to store bodies.

At the same time, some funeral home operators say they can't blame the Administration, as too many Jamaicans are still flouting the regulation relating to crowd size at funerals.

On Sunday, after Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the March 8 to 22 halt to funerals and burials, president of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors Calvin Lyn called on the Government to review the measure.

“They will have to allow some burial, with further restrictions, but we say to the Government, review it for the two weeks,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“They have to allow burials with the restriction of the attendees, because you can't have bodies piled up, especially COVID cases. We need to bury as quickly as possible,” said Lyn. more