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Editor's note: This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News Jan. 4, 2021. Republished with permission.
Funeral director Kevin Spitzer has been overwhelmed with covid-related deaths in the small city of Aberdeen, South Dakota.
He and his two colleagues at the Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home have been working 12-15 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep up with the demand in the community of 26,000. The funerals are sparsely attended, which would have been unthinkable before the pandemic.
“We had a funeral for a younger man one recent Saturday, and not 20 people came, because most everyone was just afraid,” he said.