Anna Hamilton held her younger sister Aleta as they made their way toward their mother’s casket, trying not to touch their faces while crying through surgical masks.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Barbara Hamilton passed away on April 18 at home in D.C. She was 57 and had a lengthy battle with a serious heart condition, passing away after heart failure.

And even though her death wasn’t coronavirus-related, her memorial was altered by the pandemic.

Across the region, funeral homes are grappling with how to provide essential burial services in the wake of COVID-19. Limits on the size of public gatherings have fundamentally changed the grieving process for families since mid-March, drastically cutting down the number of loved ones in attendance at services. Even hugging and physical comfort during grief have become more complicated amid social distancing precautions.

“Imagine going from a funeral that normally would host 100 to 200 people, sometimes more, to now a family having to select what 10 people will be in attendance,” Tuawana Pridgen, a mortician and owner of Pridgen Funeral Home in Prince George’s County, told WAMU earlier this month. “It’s like a mental anguish.”

Some families have made the difficult decision to postpone or forgo services for lost loved ones as the coronavirus has made even small gatherings dangerous, particularly for people with underlying medical conditions. Area funeral homes have begun offering livestreamed services, and now have meetings with families virtually instead of face to face. In many instances, only five people are allowed to be present for the actual burial at a cemetery.

When her mother died, Hamilton had to make a difficult decision.

Two of her younger siblings tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be placed in quarantine for two weeks. Hamilton, her brothers and sister would need to postpone any kind of service for their mother in order to have the immediate family together to say goodbye.

“People were not able to come into our house and embrace us,” she said. “Whenever they brought things they had to set it on the porch.”

Hamilton said she couldn’t even touch her siblings for fear of contracting the coronavirus.

“Even embracing each other has been hard because of their status and just being afraid of how long it stays in their system,” she said.

The Hamiltons had to wait a month before holding their mother’s memorial. Though they were upset by the way she looked because of the delay, they were grateful to have each other there for support.

The viewing was held at the Ronald Taylor II Funeral Home on North Capitol Street in Bloomingdale. Family-owned and operated since 1988, the funeral home typically handles around 400 services a year.

But owner and funeral director Ronald Taylor II says the home has held services nearly every day for weeks.

“Most of the time, the funerals will be at their respective churches,” Taylor said. “Since these churches have been on lockdown, the funerals have been at the funeral home here.”

The demand for memorials at the funeral home has been so nonstop that Taylor said he had to take a “me day” recently.

Staff at the funeral home have adapted to the times and took extra safety precautions. A sign is posted on the door indicating everyone must wear a mask at all times, and only groups of two or three people at a time are allowed inside to view the deceased. The rest of the mourners must wait to be called inside.

Funeral directors wear black latex gloves and black masks. They set up an iPad in the direction of the casket to broadcast via Facebook Live for those who were not able to attend the service.

Members of the Hamilton family, who had already been exposed to one another or live in the same household, stood close to each other while they waited outside. Jacqueline Hamilton’s nephew Gregory Goines stood next to his young son on the stairs, both wearing masks and eye protection.

“She was close to me like my mother. My bestest friend in the whole world,” Goines said. “The worst part is not being able to kiss her when I say goodbye.”

But despite all the upheaval brought on by the pandemic, some things remain the same: Goines used the opportunity of a family gathering to photograph members of the family who aren’t usually together in one place at the same time.

Anna Hamilton feels like she has to keep close watch over her family now that both of her parents are deceased. She’s working through feelings of grief over losing her mother, and fear for her siblings who contracted the coronavirus.

In the presence of her family, Hamilton remembered her mother’s sense of humor.

“She would just walk past and say, ‘I’m sorry, I just farted,’ ” Hamilton said laughing. “And we just get the whiff of it! Oh her jokes, and her ability to just accept what was happening and just dig deeper into her faith and religion. I admire that about her.”