Funeral fiasco reflects communication lapse By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 30, 2020

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/10/2020 (1519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Perhaps the only thing worse than missing your mother’s funeral is finding out you didn’t need to miss it after all.

That’s what happened to one Manitoba woman recently. Tighter restrictions limiting gatherings to five people were to go into effect on Oct. 19 at 12:01 a.m., the day of Anne McGarry’s mother’s funeral. But sometime during the preceding weekend, the information was revised, stipulating that the order would go into effect Oct. 19 at 11 p.m., hours after the funeral.

Ms. McGarry isn’t the only one affected by confusing public-health orders related to gatherings; hundreds of people have been denied the chance to attend funerals for loved ones over the past few weeks.

Earlier this month, the Funeral Board of Manitoba understood that the provincially mandated 10-person gathering limit included funerals, and communicated that information to city funeral homes. But a separate section in a Public Health Act order signed Oct. 7 stated up to 30 per cent of the usual capacity of a premises could be allowed, as long as the people are divided into groups of five, which must remain physically distanced from the other groups of five during the gathering and when arriving or leaving.

Confusing? Yes. And it illustrates a broader, often-repeated criticism throughout the pandemic that information — in terms of both the rules and messaging — coming from the provincial government is confusing. Which makes Premier Brian Pallister’s assertion last Monday that Manitobans need to “grow up” and stop doing “dumb” things especially galling, because generally speaking, most people want to do the right thing and follow the rules.

Following the rules, as she and her funeral director understood them, is how Ms. McGarry came to miss her mother’s funeral.

When the rules are unclear or information is withheld from the public for no apparent reason other than political expediency, it can add unnecessary frustration and grief to an already difficult time.

A lack of clarity and consistency makes the rules harder to follow. Consider the mixed messages Manitobans have received about gatherings: Thanksgiving weekend is being blamed for a recent spike in cases; at that time, gatherings were limited to 10, but that figure meant the number of guests in addition to members of a household, which means gatherings could have had many more than 10 people.

More recently, chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin has recommended no socializing with people from outside your household, at the same time the province was allowing restaurants and beverage rooms to remain open for limited sit-down service. It’s hardly surprising that some people took to social media to ask variations of “Well, if we can do this, why can’t we do that?”

Much of that discussion has, of course, been rendered moot by the province’s escalation to Code Red pandemic restrictions.

Nevertheless, concerns about the province’s communication, and increasing reluctance to answer questions and provide information to which the public is entitled, must be addressed. As the pandemic’s upward trajectory continues, the province inexplicably — and unacceptably — seems inclined to provide the public with less information, rather than more.

COVID-19 cases have been linked to funerals, including in this province. Funerals, like weddings, have the potential to become superspreader events, which can have tragic outcomes. Rules around those types of intimate gatherings, just like all gatherings, are an essential part of the pandemic fight.

But the rules, and the manner in which they’re communicated, also need to be accessible, simple, consistent and clear.