Table 4. Representative Quotes for Theme 3: End-of-Life Rituals and the Feeling of ‘Stolen Moments’ With the Deceased.

Quote No.	Subtheme	Interview No.
Before the funeral
1	“All the people who died from COVID[-19] were put naked in plastic body bags and then straight into the coffin, without even preparing the body! [Silence] And you can never see the person again. It’s over. I don’t know who made these decisions but it was difficult. It’s extremely violent.”	10
2	“Why were we not allowed to see the body? None of us could go to the morgue, to check that it was really him. We don’t even have a formal confirmation that it’s him. Not one of us has identified the body.”	6
The possibility or impossibility of a ceremony
3	“We couldn’t attend the cremation. They just gave us the date and time. It was so hard, so very, very hard, very difficult.”	3
4	“We weren’t allowed to go to the crematorium. It’s a shame. Because of this, we feel that we couldn’t be with her until the very end.”	16
5	“It was appalling.… We weren’t allowed to do anything. We couldn’t touch the coffin, we couldn’t bring flowers, nothing at all. I feel like we abandoned him! He left the hospital all alone, in his coffin, with all the other bodies waiting. No real ceremony, nothing at all. It lasted 14 minutes, with just me and the kids, 9 people.”	2
6	“It was like, ‘Okay, the package is wrapped, hop, it’s over now!’… It’s not a moment I want to remember.”	1
7	“It wasn’t worthy of a funeral.… People don’t deserve to be buried like that.”	6
Rituals and grief
8	“I fought for things to happen… And it felt good for everyone. And the battle I fought afterwards felt good for me, too. I managed to have a mass.… We scattered the ashes in the cemetery when I thought it wasn’t going to be possible.… My grandchildren were able to come, although they live in different regions. That was important, very important. We were able to pay tribute to him, to talk about him.”	15
9	“The funeral was broadcast using Zooma and about 100 people were able to follow the funeral.”	12
10	“I was given the day and the time of the cremation. That, in itself, was ultra important: it gave us a moment to share collectively. We said, ‘At 4 o’clock, we must all stop what we’re doing to think about him, it’s a way of being together.’ We organized a Skypeb [online meeting] so that we could all be strong together at the same moment.”	4
11	“I came home from the memorial service yesterday.… I can now say to myself, ‘Well, that’s it, that’s it, it’s over.’ It makes me cry, but at the same time, it’s a relief, too. I now feel like I can start something else.”	14
12	“With COVID[-19], it’s even harder, because you can’t just gather yourself close to your loved one’s coffin and say one last goodbye. It’s unreal, it’s unreal. It’s not possible.”	8
13	“I call it the stolen moment, and by that I mean the funeral rituals. For a civilized society, such as ours, these rituals are important. In a classic death, you can accompany the deceased.… But, here, we’re missing some fundamental steps in the system! My wife is alive, she goes to the hospital, she dies in the hospital, and then, on the following Friday, we’re scattering her ashes.”	10
14	“It’s hard to grieve. Sometimes, I tell myself she will come back, it’s not possible, we didn’t bury her. For me, she’s here, she’s somewhere. I have her things at home, I didn’t tidy anything up, I didn’t touch anything, and everything is here.”	3

^aVideo conferencing software; Zoom Video Communications.

^bVideo conferencing software; Microsoft.