Covid - 19 Statement

McGuire Funeral Service, Inc. Is Prepared to Safely Care For Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic

McGuire Funeral Service, Inc. remains committed and prepared to safely care for the families it serves during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Whenever possible, we will continue to enable families to participate in the rituals that are most important to them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at this time, there is no known risk associated with being in the same room at a funeral or visitation service with the body of someone who died of confirmed or suspected COVID-19; however, federal, state and local public health guidance may impact the size of gathering a family is able to plan. Depending on a family’s preferences, their loved one can be safely embalmed. Families may choose either burial or cremation as usual.

We recognize our responsibility to protect the health of those we are privileged to serve and will continue to guide families, as we always have, in ways they can meaningfully commemorate the life of their loved one, while adhering to the guidance issued by federal, state and local public health officials.

Our staff remains vigilant about cleaning our facilities and ensuring we’re all following recommended healthy habits, such as staying home when sick, washing our hands, and covering coughs and sneezes. The CDC and our District public health officials have offered a lot of helpful guidance for businesses on this topic, which we continue to follow, such as, “Families and clergy should limit the amount of people gathered for funeral, memorial, and vigil services to less than the posted guidelines issued by the DC Department of Health (DC Health) and orders issued by the Mayor of the District of Columbia, with social distancing best practices implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

With this guidance in mind,  we request that all persons in our funeral home wear masks or face coverings and we must limit the number of persons attending services at this establishment to the maximum specified by any regulation in effect. In addition, because of the resurgence of Covid-19, we must limit the number of people coming into our establishment to make funeral arrangements to two. Before you come to our funeral home to make arrangements, ask yourself several questions:

Do I feel sick?
In the past 14 days, was I in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with Covid-19  or who has symptoms of Covid-19?
Am I currently waiting for my own Covid-19 test results?
Have I traveled to a high-risk state or country recently and have not yet been tested?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, for the safety of all in our facility, we will ask that you postpone your in-person visit, make most of the arrangements virtually, or designate someone else to make the arrangements.

We ask for your understanding in this matter and hope that you recognize that these suggestions are for the well-being of those we serve and our staff.

Throughout history, human beings have still managed to conduct the rites, rituals and services necessary to honor and remember their beloved dead during challenging times.  Therefore, despite the difficulties we now face, both personally and professionally, never doubt that, together, we will all get through this, for this too shall pass.

Thank you for your cooperation during these extraordinary times.

06/28/2022