Friday, March 27, 2020

MOURNING APART, OR COVID-19 POSTPONING REMEMBRANCE

A funeral in Milwaukee last week.
By Kirk Johnson
New York Times
SEATTLE — After Mary Flo Werner died last week of cancer, her nine grandchildren filed in through the big white doors of their Catholic church in Janesville, Wis., for the funeral Mass. Nine plus the priest made 10, the maximum number allowed to gather since a widening coronavirus outbreak led to strict limits on public gatherings.

Left to grieve in the church parking lot were Ms. Werner’s four adult children. They sat in their cars and watched their 74-year-old mother’s service on their phones and tablets.

In Staten Island, N.Y., the family of Arnold Obey, 73, a retired school principal, does not know when or how his funeral might occur. Mr. Obey died Sunday night while vacationing in Puerto Rico, and his wife is in isolation in a San Juan hotel room, awaiting her coronavirus test results.

Meri Dreyfuss, a tech worker in the San Francisco area whose older sister, Barbara Dreyfuss, died in Seattle this month of complications from the coronavirus, has put off a funeral until the fall.

“We can’t properly bury our dead because of the situation,” she said. “We can’t mourn together, we can’t share memories together, we can’t get together and hug each other.”

The rituals of honoring and saying goodbye to the dead run deep.

 Reaching out to touch in sympathy and condolence feels instinctive. But the coronavirus, in its confounding and confining effects — stay-at-home orders, bans on large gatherings and fears of travel and exposure — is blowing those traditions apart, no matter the cause of death.

To read rest of article, click on link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/us/coronavirus-funerals.html

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mexico screens border crossers; Efforts taken to limit spread of virus
INFECTED GRINGOS FROM COCKROACH EUROPE.

Anonymous said...

I WONDER IF THEY VISITED WHILE SHE WAS ALIVE.
WE WAIT UNTIL THEY DIE AND EULOGIZE THEM WHEN
WE NEVER TOLD THEM WHEN THEY WERE ALIVE. A
CREMATION AND A PRIVATE BURIAL IS BEST FOR THE
PURPOSE, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING.

Anonymous said...

At least they don't live in Wuhan, where they just throw you into the incinerators.

Anonymous said...

HOUSE PASSES STIMULUS BILL:

Here's what's in the bill:

Direct payments: Americans will receive a one-time direct deposit of up to $1,200, and married couples will get $2,400, plus an additional $500 per child. The payments will be available for incomes up to $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for married couples. This is true even for those who have no income, as well as those whose income comes entirely from non-taxable, means-tested benefit programs, such as Social Security.

Anonymous said...

I think I'm gonna buy a 60 in tv a laptop computer and a roll of toilet paper, that amounts to abt 1200 dollars and set it up at a bus shelter not enough to pay the rent much less the light bill... gracias trumputo

Anonymous said...

Screen and exclude those infected greasers from shit hole Mesico.

Anonymous said...

Hillbilly idiotas are stuck in the toilets of the appalachian mountains dating their sisters with NO toilet paper. cenote de mierda and they love it

rita