4 minute read
ICCM In Touch
in touch
I’m writing this In Touch on ‘Freedom Day’ in England – Monday 19th July 2021. Today is the day that all legal limits on the numbers meeting indoors and outdoors have been scrapped. All businesses can reopen. People can attend events such as concerts, plays in theatres, and sporting events. Night clubs can reopen. The social distancing rule has ended, as has the mandatory wearing of face coverings in indoor settings. People are no longer instructed to work from home, and the limit on named visitors to care homes is being lifted.
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So, does that mean we are free?
Well, we are definitely not free of the coronavirus that has been a constant in our lives for well over a year now. Case numbers are continuing to rise, especially of the Delta variant, and even those who have been double vaccinated are catching the virus and having symptoms. The number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and the number of people dying with it are rising. However, the Government seem confident that this is at a much lesser rate than in previous peaks, and that the vaccination rollout has successfully broken the link between infection, serious illness and death. They feel the time is right to remove legal restrictions.
Despite this, many companies, authorities and individuals are choosing to continue to use restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. It still presents a risk, particularly to those who have not been vaccinated, for whatever reason, and to those that have been vaccinated but who have compromised immune systems. Many people will also continue to isolate themselves as best they can. Others will continue to wear face coverings in shops and other settings, and it will remain a requirement to wear such a covering on public transport in many parts of the country.
The situation is similar in Scotland and Wales, and Northern Ireland will no doubt be watching with interest to see what happens in these countries before considering their own easing of restrictions.
So what does this state of ‘freedom’ mean for funerals? The updated guidance on funerals published by the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England enables venue operators to choose to set their own limits. There are no longer any legal restrictions on the limit of attendees at a funeral, or a post-funeral event such as a wake or burial or scattering of ashes. There are also no legal restrictions on singing or chanting, or on the playing of live music at funerals. Social distancing is no longer a legal requirement. In theory, therefore, funerals can go back to ‘normal’, ie as they were before the pandemic hit in 2020.
This, however, is against a backdrop of increasing infection rates, and record numbers of people being contacted via the NHS Test and Trace programme and told to self isolate because they have been in contact with somebody who has tested positive for Covid-19; 600,000 people in the previous week have been ‘pinged’ and told to self-isolate. The press are now calling this a ‘pingdemic’, and the high number of people having to self-isolate is causing serious concerns in many sectors. It is easy to see how cemetery and crematorium teams could be seriously depleted should they come into contact with somebody with Covid-19, and then being pinged, forcing them to self-isolate. The ICCM, through DMAG, is putting pressure on the Government to allow a concession to those working in the sector who have been doubly vaccinated and who test negative for Covid-19 to continue working. Without this concession, it is a very real possibility that burial and cremation services could be seriously compromised, and may even have to be cancelled in some extreme situations.
Employers continue to have a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. This includes protecting them, as far as is reasonably practicable, from the coronavirus. It is not an easy task to achieve this protection for employees whilst the Government have removed any legal basis for imposing restrictions. At the same time, there is a desire for funerals to return to ‘normal’. Grieving families and friends have had so much to put up with since the start of the pandemic that it seems somewhat unfair to continue to impose restrictions when the Government has given everyone their freedom. Similarly, those working in cemeteries and crematoria have been working under intense pressure in situations that cannot be described as normal. However, stopping the virus spreading is a major objective, but how do we do that? There must be a balance within this delicate situation of protecting people whilst allowing them to enjoy their freedom.
So far, most burial and cremation authorities and companies are continuing to set their own restrictions, as they are allowed to do. The restrictions are proportionate, and have been generally well accepted. It would seem that mourners are aware of the need to continue to try to stop the spread of the virus, and are, on the whole, following local restrictions without complaint. Indeed, in the general population, the vast majority of people are continuing to wear masks in indoor settings such as shops, and are still following guidance on increased hand sanitisation. People are choosing to do the right thing.
Earlier on this In Touch I asked so, does that mean we are free? If we use the following quote by American clergyman Peter Marshall to determine what freedom is, I believe it does mean we are free:
May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.
I know that ICCM members will continue to do what is right.
