COVID is waning, but Pierce County funeral directors worry about its lasting effects
Coretta Harwood is in a difficult business. But the last two years, she says, have been even more challenging than usual. You can hear it in her voice.
Harwood is the owner of Scott Funeral Home on Hilltop, though many in Tacoma still refer to it as House of Scott, which is the name her father, L’Ray Scott, chose when he opened the business back in 1967. For decades, the funeral home has provided funeral and cremation services to families coping with incredible loss in a historically Black neighborhood, helping loved ones through some of the worst times in their lives.
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s sad — but not surprising — to hear Harwood say that business has been booming.
What’s jarring is to hear the physical and emotional toll it’s taken, and her belief that — even as the waning days of the omicron surge have left many ready to turn the page — Harwood expects plenty of dark days ahead.
The pandemic might be winding down, but Harwood, 44, says that the the damage inflicted over the last two years goes further than many realize. You can see it in the number of drug overdose deaths and suicides her funeral home encounters, she says, and it’s not a trend she expects to dissipate soon.
“It’s just been very tragic to see all of the loss,” Harwood said.
Scott Funeral Home recently has been working through double the typical number of funerals and cremations every month, going from roughly 20 to 40 or 45, Harwood said.
Harwood also told The News Tribune she’s seen more homicides than usual, which tracks with a 2021 increase seen across Pierce County.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a time in my life where so many people are burying their children — and I’m not talking about infants, I’m talking about adults,” Harwood said. “All things bad that could have happened seems to have happened during this time for so many people. And it’s made it very challenging to support the survivors.”
Harwood’s observations are anecdotal. Beyond the staggering number of deaths directly linked to COVID-19, grasping for a precise measurement of how much pain, anguish and loss the virus has contributed to remains difficult.
Still, there are indications that Harwood is onto something. According to Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, drug poisoning deaths and overdoses increased by 75% between 2019 and 2020. And according to preliminary numbers from the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office, 2021 was even worse.
While the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has not specifically linked the local rise in overdose and drug poisoning deaths to COVID-19, many national and statewide studies have. The rise of illicit fentanyl is also a major contributing factor.
Suicides are more complicated. While they’ve been on the rise for years, based on the most recent figures available, suicide deaths slightly declined in 2020 — in Pierce County and across the state — according to TPCHD and statistics from the state Department of Health. Data from 2021 is still preliminary, and largely unavailable.
Locally, Harwood isn’t the only local funeral director who has noticed a difference. Corey Gaffney and his wife own Gaffney Funeral Home on Yakima Avenue and six other funeral homes across the region, making his business one of the largest in the area. The Gaffneys also own two cemeteries and two crematories.
Historically, Gaffney says he handles roughly 100 deaths a month, pandemic or not. In January, that number spiked to about 150. It was largely an outlier, he said — attributing it in part to the crisis level local hospitals were operating under during the omicron wave.
What’s alarming, Gaffney says, is the rise in drug overdoses and suicides he’s seeing.
Looking at internal data, Gaffney estimated that his businesses have seen a 20% to 30% increase in the number of suicides over the last two years, and a 50% increase in drug overdose deaths.
“It’s stark,” Gaffney said. “I’m 44 years old. I’ve been doing this for 22 or 23 years. I grew up in the business. You get used to seeing people who took their lives, but not this many.”
Like Harwood, Gaffney’s assessment is largely anecdotal, representing the experience of one local funeral director.
Also like Harwood, Gaffney said he’s not expecting the toll of COVID-19 to quickly subside, particularly with the potential for new variants on the horizon.
“I think that we will continue to unfortunately have a lot of families looking for funeral homes, and that makes me sad,” Gaffney said.
At Scott Funeral Home on Hilltop, Harwood said all she can do is try to keep up and keep being there for families who need her. She’s regularly been working 18 hour days, she said, and recently collapsed from sheer exhaustion outside the funeral home that’s been in her family for more than 50 years.
“At one point, I told the staff, ‘Nobody answer the phone. We can’t help anybody else right now. Just let it ring.’ And that is something you would never think that you would say, because when you go to do this business, it’s not just about getting up going to work every day, it’s about taking care of people. You have to be passionate about being able to look after people, and you have to feel like that’s a calling that God put in your heart,” Harwood said.
“For me to say, ‘Don’t answer the phone. We can’t help anybody else right now?’ It’s pretty bad.”
