What happens if I get COVID before my dad’s funeral?

[Meadowblossom]

After an extremely traumatic Christmas where my dad died, we have finally got clearance from the coroner for the funeral to go ahead.
Amongst all the other millions of things that cause anxiety and stress at the time, I am also worried about getting COVID and then not being able to go to my dad’s funeral.
I am the only surviving family member. Would the funeral go ahead or could it be postponed? No other family members to consider.
The rates are so high at the moment and I am in a high risk occupation.

I am sorry for your loss. Who is organising the funeral? If it is you, speak to the undertaker to get advice. And go back to basics: stay away from crowds and unventilated areas, wear a good mask, wash your hands often, observe social distancing to reduce your own personal risk as much as you can. If you haven't already done so, get a booster. I hope all goes to plan and that you stay well.

You can still attend the funeral of a close family member under part 1, 2.3.b.v of the act obviously you would need to be careful and let them know you are positive.

Buried my dad last week and I so much sympathise as I live abroad and any negative test before or after travel would have stopped me attending.

I started using an FFP2 mask everywhere to reduce my risk in the weeks ahead of the funeral.

Hope you will stay clear of covid and be able to say your farewells to your dad. Such an important moment. I’m very sorry for your loss. Sorry I can’t be more help with your questions.

Thank you. I am organising the funeral. It’s a good point about the vaccines. We are boosted and 2 of our kids have had one dose, youngest is still at primary school. I am not sure how much they will protect us though.
I wondered if there was, for practical reasons, a maximum time that there could be before the death and the funeral having to take place? It has already been 3 weeks since he died.
I am a teacher and despite the government saying schools are safe, teachers aren’t at risk and kids don’t pass on COVID I know that’s not true and have almost convinced myself that the worst will happen and the funeral will have to go ahead without me.
I am possibly catastrophising but I have learnt that sometimes your worst nightmare comes true.

@Cattitudes

You can still attend the funeral of a close family member under part 1, 2.3.b.v of the act obviously you would need to be careful and let them know you are positive.

That’s amazing thank you - off to Google!

@Yika

Buried my dad last week and I so much sympathise as I live abroad and any negative test before or after travel would have stopped me attending.

I started using an FFP2 mask everywhere to reduce my risk in the weeks ahead of the funeral.

Hope you will stay clear of covid and be able to say your farewells to your dad. Such an important moment. I’m very sorry for your loss. Sorry I can’t be more help with your questions.

I am so sorry you lost your dad.

It is in my post, click on the hyperlink on the word act.

Thank you! It was 5 weeks in our case from death to burial and could easily have been a couple of weeks later as there were only a couple of dates available to us before Christmas. So I’m not sure that there’s a deadline as such.

Sorry for your loss.
The week before my DH’s funeral in October we (DC and I) were with his whole family (parents and siblings) for a few hours. The next day my nephew tested positive. There was the possibility all or any of us could have caught it. The funeral director said we could rearrange if necessary up to the day before. It had already been 5 weeks since he died but there isn’t a time limit as far as I know (we were discussing rearranging for several weeks later). As a family, we had to decide at what point we would cancel, and we decided it would be if I couldn’t be there or his parents. Then his brother tested positive. The funeral director told us of the guidance that said he could still attend if he wore a mask, sat separately and I informed everyone else who was attending (great way to spend an afternoon trying to contact everyone), but then came back to us and said the crematorium had their own rules and he couldn’t attend. You could always run this situation past your funeral director and see what they say would happen. They have probably experienced this or similar before. DH’s funeral was live streamed because it was offered for free and there were other people who couldn’t attend for various reasons, so, in the end, BIL drove behind the hearse to the crematorium and watched the live stream from his car so he was physically there as much as possible. Fingers crossed for you.

I'm in a similar position. My dad's funeral is next week. The funeral director told us she thinks the crematorium would be happy to change the date and that there wouldn't be any extra charges from them if we had to rearrange due to Covid. Maybe speak to your funeral director for some further reassurance. Sorry for your loss

There isn't a limit - as shown by the awful Freud case, where a judge had to basically bash sibling heads together to get their poor mother buried.
www.thejc.com/news/uk/siblings-agree-compromise-in-high-court-dispute-over-mother-s-burial-1.62121

Nobody here is contemplating delays for anything but the most understandable of causes!