To say it is not to fully absorb it: Our nation of 330 million souls has lost one million lives in just over two years to a virus that landed here in January 2020. Nor is the deeply humbling total, which has touched almost every American family, the end. We mark the milestone when there’s a merciful lull in casualties from COVID only about 400 Americans are now dying daily, thanks to vaccinations, natural immunity and a prevalent mutation that’s less deadly but no guarantees about the future.
(RNS) There are no signs in front yards hailing the men and women who sometimes wryly call themselves “last responders.”
But for funeral directors across the country, like medical professionals, this has been a year like no other.
“There is no way to explain it,” said Stephen Kemp, 61, director of Kemp Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Southfield, Michigan, which borders Detroit. “I will never forget it as long as I live. In terms of sheer volume, it was surreal.”
In a normal month, Kemp estimates, he handles arrangements for about 30 bodies. In April, said Kemp, he did 152, mostly African American men. Now, even as his monthly toll has settled to about 40, he’s seeing people with comorbid conditions succumbing to the long-term effects of the disease.
Shameful : U.S. virus deaths top 400K as Trump leaves office
ADAM GELLER and JANIE HAR
January 19, 2021, 12:28 PM
FILE - In this May 2, 2020, file photo, Erika Bermudez becomes emotional as she leans over the grave of her mother, Eudiana Smith, at Bayview Cemetery in Jersey City, N.J., Bermudez was not allowed to approach the gravesite until cemetery workers had buried her mother, who died of COVID-19. Other members of the family and friends stayed in their cars. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
As President Donald Trump entered the final year of his term last January, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Not to worry, Trump insisted, his administration had the virus “totally under control.”