As COVID-19 makes a big comeback in Victoria and the death toll rises one Company appears to be taking advantage of the problems associated with restrictions on funerals by launching an expensive graveside camera range.
The new cameras allow banned interstate relatives to attend a virtual funeral the Company claims.
Apparently the new cemetery cameras aren’t intended for security — they offer the virus-weary living the ability to have “on-demand virtual burial visits” with the departed claims the founder of AFTER a US Company that is now trying to flog $693 graveside cameras.
According to the Companies press release the range consists of two weather-resistant, solar-powered cameras that grievers can attach to headstones or place in-ground at gravesites to digitally access their loved ones’ final resting places.
The cameras can be purchased online.
The “death care” tech features HD video, night vision, two-way audio and 24/7 streaming access to a gravesite through a mobile- and tablet-compatible app. The app is also intended to be used as a diary, where mourners can save videos, notes, music, and photos.
CEO Joseph Schechter was inspired to “bring burial visits into the digital age” by his father’s death, according to the press release.
The invention comes at a time when record numbers of people have been forced to hold funerals online due to the coronavirus pandemic making gatherings, even those to grieve, unsafe for the living.
According to Health Direct up to 50 people can still attend a funeral — in addition to the people conducting the funeral.
At this stage it appears that no Australian distributor has picked up the rights to sell the camera.
Customers’ testimonies on the company’s website are not specific to COVID.
“I moved to New York for work right after my mother passed away and was devastated not to be able to see her resting place,” reads one review from a 58-year-old named Michael. “When the headstone went up, I couldn’t be there in person, but I was able to stream it virtually and join my siblings in prayer. Today, I connect whenever I’m missing her, and I have got a bunch of her favourite Frank Sinatra songs saved in the app that bring me back to happier times with her.”
