As the pandemic enters its third year, there's no return to normal for Hari Close and other Black funeral directors.
released guidance saying there was no evidence that dead bodies could be contagious, Close and many of his peers were afraid.
After taking a break in his teens — he worried the hearses were scaring away dates — he returned in his mid-20s to the profession he feels is his calling.National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association in August 2019, hoping to focus his presidency on growing the organization’s membership. Instead, the pandemic hit and the member deaths started climbing., a Long Island funeral director who Close always called for advice on New York cases.
He was among at least 41 Black funeral directors since March 2020 — a staggering toll for the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association, which has about 2,000 members.William Penn TroyWhen Close heard the news, he called Troy’s sons and asked a question he’d found himself repeating again and again: “What can I do?”spreading rapidly in the South, Close traveled to Mullins, S.C., for Troy’s funeral.
Randy Anderson, the president of the National Funeral Directors Association, which is 10 times as large and has a membership that is more than 97 percent White, said the only funeral directors he knows who have died because of covid-19 during the pandemic are a few Black directors in his native Alabama.
Close learned he had atrial fibrillation, or AFIB, which could be addressed by a procedure to shock his heart into beating normally. After a successful operation, Close felt younger — and newly determined to save as many of his peers as he could.He sent messages to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan , the mayor of Baltimore and a state senator, asking that funeral home directors be included in the first vaccine-eligibility category.