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A new display about the pandemic is in the works.
“It’s hit us really, really hard,” said Salvador Perches Jr., 51, comparing the spike in deaths to cartel slayings that flared in Juarez from 2007 to 2012, when it became known as “Murder City.”
Back then, Perches funeral homes were shot up. The family was forced to pay extortion money, and employees feared for their lives at viewings. COVID-19 deaths are less bloody, but just as constant, he said, as is employees’ fear of catching the virus.
“This pandemic, it’s taking it to another level,” he said. “It’s nonstop.”