Facts, Not Fear: Covid19 Deaths and Funerals

As a general rule, we post articles directly related to green burial, however, due to inquiries we have been receiving about the care of a body after death, we have decided to add this information from the Funeral Consumers Alliance to our website.

When a disaster or a pandemic occurs, people are understandably fearful. But humans are prone to amplifying our fears beyond reality, and one of the first places the human mind goes when in a state of fear is to thoughts of death and dead bodies.

Throughout history, people have believed that illness and plague arise from and are spread by the dead, or by “miasmas” in the air. Though we figured out “germ theory” more than a century ago, these folk beliefs are still a big part of our mental landscape. Our heightened emotional state also makes it difficult to know when we’ve left the realm of the rational and are instead ruminating.

Put simply, we have a strong emotional belief that the dead “contaminate.” Physically, psychologically, spiritually. This causes undue worry about things that are not going to happen, and it is causing many of us unhelpful stress.

Let’s separate fear from fact. It’s OK and normal to be anxious, and no one is “weird” or abnormal for having these fears. But they do need to be put in check, and they can be put in check. We all have reasonable concerns about actual health and safety problems, and those are what need our attention. Read more. >>