Almost a year after the coronavirus death toll started to climb, a local pastor weighed in on his experience with funerals and church attendance.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health, San Juan County in New Mexico has had almost 13,550 COVID-19 cases, including 439 deaths.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines, many funerals were delayed for months or conducted without extended family and friends.
Last wishes also were casualties of the pandemic.
Ruth M. Ford died in Farmington near the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020. In her obituary, it said she donated her body to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, but because she died from COVID-19, “her wishes could not be honored.”
Local pastors faced their own hardships, including the worry of turning away churchgoers.
Pastor Matt Mizell was one of the lucky ones: He hasn’t turned away churchgoers all year.
“Before the pandemic, we would have some funerals that packed our 950-person auditorium,” Mizell said Thursday. “Since the pandemic started, we have had to require lower attendance, but we have never had to turn people away at the door.”
Until Feb. 24, churches were limited to 25% capacity. Now that San Juan County is at the yellow level for coronavirus risk, capacity has increased to 40%.
Mizell said the same restrictions applied to church attendance, but because his congregation “organically” lowered attendance, he didn’t need to enforce the rules.
“I am grateful for this considering the fact I would struggle turning someone away from a service, especially a funeral,” Mizell said.
His church met social-distancing requirements by removing every other row of chairs and mandating masks.
As the lead pastor at Piñon Hills Community Church, Mizell said the entire church has done about 10 COVID-19 funerals in the past year with various pastors. In March 2020, funerals were immediate family only.
He officiated a funeral in Santa Fe in August that normally would have had 400 to 500 attendees. But because of COVID-19, attendees watched remotely on Zoom, and only immediate family attended the graveside service.
At another, Mizell said friends and family wrote letters about the deceased to be read aloud.
“The letters were read and helped the family feel the presence of loved ones there even though they physically weren’t there,” he said.
At Piñon Hills, attendance initially skyrocketed online in April 2020.
“In general, the pandemic has brought forth more conversations about death and life after death,” Mizell said.
Attendance then dropped to 48% as the pandemic dragged on, but has begun to rebound. Still, Mizell said he doesn’t expect attendance to fully recover until August.
mmitchell@durangoherald.com
