I REMEMBER when my parents, uncles, and aunts passed away, I dropped everything to be at their side.

When Ninang (Auntie) Luz passed away in her 80's in 2000, I had to book a plane ticket at a regular price, with the family in tow. Never mind that the plane fare cost an arm and a leg, but family is family.

That’s how we honor our loved ones who pass away. I wonder though if the dead can still appreciate the efforts of the living to honor them. Filipinos have retained the belief of life after death from their ancestors but generally as Christians we honor our dead by holding a wake followed by a mourning period as we accompany them in their final resting place.

In this age of Covid-19, as patients die without their families or friends in hospitals, the coronavirus pandemic is limiting people’s ability to mourn.

Funeral services and rituals have also been restricted because of lockdowns imposed around the world.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc in the world with the number of infections and deaths rising rapidly this all changes.

“The sad thing for suspected Covid-19 patients is that they have to die alone, catching their last breath alone,” read a post on Instagram account @nonznonz on Monday morning.

My dear friend, my charismatic sister, and a Covid-19 frontliner has this story to say on a recent death in her family. “To lose someone during a pandemic,” says Doc CM, “is disheartening.”

My Uncle is not a Covid patient nor a PUI. He has been on and off the hospital for 3 months and eventually succumbed to multi-organ failure as a complication of chronic and septic arthritis. We can somehow call our family lucky because we can set a wake and a funeral for him but not all of his relatives and friends can visit and see him for the last time.

If this situation can break our hearts, what greater pain it must have been for families who were left with no other choice but to say goodbye at a distance to their loved ones who died because of Covid-19.

We can’t fully understand what inner suffering these families are going through, but we can always let them feel that we care.

In this pandemic, we are all helpless. Yet we can always continue to respect each other, whether positive or negative of the virus. Please avoid discrimination.

Also, please pray for the soul of my uncle, Nicanor G. Taclobos Jr., he died on March 31, 2020; and for the constant good health of my lolo, Nicanor S. Taclobos, Sr. Eternal rest, grant unto Nicanor O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful, especially Covid-19 departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.