How COVID-19 Changed American Funerals and Grief

Many families who lost someone in 2020 and 2021 could not hold the funeral they wanted. This article looks at what the pandemic did to deaths, funerals, and grief in the United States, and what research has found so far.

How many more people died?

A record number. The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) reports, citing CDC data, that 3,383,729 deaths were registered in the United States in 2020. That was 528,891 more than the 2,854,838 registered in 2019, the largest one-year increase on record. NFDA says about 385,000 people died of COVID-19 in 2020, more than 462,000 in 2021, and about 245,000 in 2022.

What happened at funeral homes?

They were strained, and services changed. Axios reported in April 2020 that morgues and funeral homes in the hardest-hit cities held three to four times as many bodies as they were built for. Funeral homes limited services to immediate family, kept people apart, and held virtual ceremonies. NFDA issued guidance in March 2020 based on federal advice about mass gatherings.

Livestreaming spread quickly. According to CBS, an NFDA survey found that almost half of NFDA members started livestreaming services in 2020. NFDA later reported that more than half of member funeral homes had done so since the pandemic began. CBS also reported that an NFDA survey found more funeral homes cremating instead of hosting casket burials, which was quicker as deaths rose. For tips on streaming a service, see How to Livestream a Funeral.

Who paid for the funerals?

For many families, FEMA did. It began taking applications in April 2021 for funeral costs after deaths on or after January 20, 2020. NBC reported that payments could be up to $9,000, and that the death certificate had to attribute the death to COVID-19. By April 2022, FEMA said it had paid more than $2.1 billion to about 326,000 applicants. By August 2023, NFDA reported nearly $3 billion in total and an average award of $6,400. This article does not cover whether the program is still open, so check FEMA directly.

Did grief change?

Studies disagree on some points and agree on others. A UK study led by Emily Harrop followed people bereaved in the first year of the pandemic over four points in time. It found higher levels of prolonged grief than expected compared with before the pandemic. Loneliness and lack of support strongly predicted more symptoms. Feeling supported by health professionals after the death was linked to fewer symptoms.

Research by Maarten Eisma and colleagues found that grief was higher after COVID-19 deaths than after natural deaths. Later work linked that gap to how unexpected the death was and the inability to say goodbye. But grief was not higher than after deaths from unnatural causes. In a separate comparison of 1,600 bereaved adults, grief after non-COVID deaths was not significantly different before and during the pandemic.

The evidence about saying goodbye and funerals is mixed too. The Harrop team notes that one study found no differences in prolonged grief, funeral attendance, or how people rated funerals between pandemic and earlier bereaved groups. A 2026 study of a Mexican sample found no difference in prolonged grief between people who could say goodbye to a dying relative and those who could not.

What does this tell us?

That the circumstances around a death matter, and so does support afterward. The most consistent finding is that isolation makes grief harder, and that care from other people helps. If you are still carrying a loss from that time, see Complicated Grief and Coping With Sudden or Traumatic Loss.

Where can I learn more?

For an earlier pandemic, see How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Overwhelmed American Funerals and Cemeteries. For long-term change, see How Have Funerals Changed Over the Last 100 Years?.