National Funeral Directors Association (NDFA) Webinar Information for Funeral Directors

Here are notes from a March 13, 2020 webinar presented by the NFDA for funeral directors (FDs) in the United States.

The BAO thanks them for providing this webinar and important information to funeral directors about caring for deceased persons, who have died following COVID-19, and their families.

• Protect yourselves as FDs – wear gloves, personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Handle the deceased in appropriate manner.
• Spray the deceased’s face, body, nostrils with disinfectant.
• Do not buy into the pandemonium.
• As funeral professionals: Be the voice of reason.
• We can still have open casket funerals and visitations.
• Families deserve to say a proper goodbye.
• Have hand sanitizer available at your funeral home.
• Encourage families to respect distance between each other.
• Other than that, it is business as usual.
• We can offer families anything that we would normally offer.
• The NFDA is hosting a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) webinar on Monday, March 16, 2020.

• Do a thorough aspiration and discharge.
• Apply thorough disinfectant spray to the body.
• If we do this – there is no harm expected to the general public.
• The CDC recommends that family members are not to hug or kiss their loved one’s body.
• Always thoroughly clean your instruments, as usual, to prevent cross-contamination.
• It is not yet known how long the virus survives in the body.
• From the NFDA website: There is currently no known risk associated with being in the same room at a funeral or visitation service with the body of someone who died of COVID-19.
• NFDA Funerals Q&A webpage
• NFDA will post a Frequently Asked Questions document on its website.
• The NFDA COVID-19 web page will be regularly updated.