-He was a pharmacist for over 50 years.
He was such a humanitarian person
and took very good care of his patients,
so he had a fan club, we used to say.
-After Abbie Purn's father, Jerry Mandel,
passed away from COVID-19 in late March,
one of the first things she did was try to get clothes
for him to wear at his funeral.
-They wouldn't be able to shave him.
They wouldn't be able to prepare him.
They kept him in a BioSeal bag and over --
The BioSeal bag, they said, they would place the clothes.
-Mandel and his wife lived
in a senior resident apartment in Nevada.
It's not clear how he contracted the virus,
but his decline was swift.
-I knew once he went on
the breathing machine, that it was over.
And I couldn't even be there to say g--
to talk to him and say goodbye.
I mean, except for those last
15 minutes when I was there when he died.
I mean, normally, when you have somebody who's dying,
the families all come to -- You know, most families
want to come and be with their loved one,
hold their hand, tell them their goodbyes.
And I feel like my family didn't get that opportunity.
-With social distancing and stay-at-home measures in place,
families are mourning their loved ones
in ways they never imagined.
-We did not get to have a ceremony
inside a chapel or anything.
We were limited to -- They said less than 10.
We had five people.
My stepmother, who is now in quarantine at home,
was not able to be at his funeral.
My daughter was FaceTiming her and she said on the phone
she could hear her crying and sobbing and saying,
"My poor Jer--" I mean, you know how horrible --
They were married for 32 years.
And she couldn't even be there.
We couldn't even hug each other and console each other
at the funeral because of the social distancing.
-Thomas Devlin lost his mother to ovarian cancer in late March
as the extent of the coronavirus crisis was becoming clear.
-And, you know, we were talking about funeral plans
with my siblings.
My dad had had a conference call with the five siblings.
He had spoken to the funeral home in Connecticut that they,
in light of the situation,
had said we could have a small family
gathering of 50 at the funeral home.
By the next day, which was Thursday,
the 19th, we started to see the anxiety.
-I think your dad called a couple of the other siblings
and told them not to come at that point.
-Instead, they held a much smaller service
and streamed it on Facebook.
Family and friends from around the world watched.
-Eleanor Catherine Devlin was born October 24, 1948.
-Being on the other side, I was very upset
that I wasn't able to get there, but then having my kids with me,
my wife, it made me feel like I was a part of it.
And the other thing that made me feel good was,
like, my sister -- I have a sister in Ohio
that wasn't gonna be able to come in.
She was so happy that she got to participate
because of this FaceTime live.
-And in some ways, the wake and funeral, which did not happen,
again, at a church, there was an intimacy of being
with my four siblings and my dad and just the grandchildren
that we wouldn't have experienced in a normal setting.
You know, I probably, you know, if we had to do it again,
I certainly would do a normal service, et cetera,
but in light of the situation, it was a good solution.
And, you know, if this happened today,
I'm not even sure we would have been able to gather.
-It's a scene that's playing out across the country.
In this Maryland funeral home,
virtual wakes and funerals have become the norm.
-So we've tried to make it as easy as possible to take care
of all the signatures that are required,
take care of the selection of a casket or an urn and flowers.
We will take a clergy with us to a graveside and videotape
or even if it was here in the chapel,
we could videotape and have a few prayers and stream it live.
We just ask that people please stay home.
-Abbie Purn still hopes to have a proper memorial
for her dad someday. -You need that closure.
You know, you need to be able to have the closure.
And to know that your father wasn't able to be properly
prepared, for me, that's like a human-dignity thing, you know?
I feel like I failed him somehow because I couldn't do that
for him.