RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — COVID-19 has changed the way everyone does their job, including coroners.
"It's been a challenge," Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.
Watts said one of the biggest struggles so far for his office during this coronavirus pandemic is trying to help grieving families.
"The whole staff here, really have over the years made it a point to being interactive with families and spending time with them," Watts said. "We give lots of hugs and everything else when the families are grieving, and with this virus situation and the social distancing, we've had to initiate new policies which has basically cut all that out."
Watts also said when it comes to interacting with the deceased, their process has changed even more.
"If they are outside the hospital, if they are symptomatic and have not been tested then we are testing them before we do anything further, to see if they are positive or not," Watts said. "If they are positive, then we look for underlying causes to look at the cause of death on that. That's basically slowed our procedure down about a day because we have to wait for test results to get back.
Things as simple as returning property to loved ones, now done at a distance and in a parking lot. Watts said it has taken a toll on his team.
"This is an emotional type of situation for our deputies because they get involved with the families and not being able to have that contact here and or on the scene where they typically have such intimate contact with family members and friends and that's changed and it's been an emotionally down time for us," Watts said.
Watts said his office did not start look at potential cases related to COVID-19 until around the middle of March.