Good afternoon, everyone. Sorry to be a couple behind. Well get right at it. Im joined to my right by the woman who needs no introduction the commissioner of the department of health, judy persaceli, to her right another person who needs very little introduction, the states epidemiologist dr. Christina tan. Thank you both for being here. The guy to my left who does not need an introduction the superintendent of the state Police Colonel pat callahan. Director of the office of Homeland Security and preparedness, jared maples is with us. Thank you. Before we get to the numbers, i have a couple of announcements to lead with. And both relate directly to the road back plan that we announced last week which will guide spour restart and recovery. First, today, i am signing an executive order to create the governors restart and recovery Advisory Council. This council will bring together leaders from various industry, community, and faithbased groups and institutions across our state. Quite lite
Governor phil murphy briefed reporters on his response to the coronavirus where he issued a few new orders for residents. From trenton, this is an hour. Good afternoon. We will get right affect right at it. I am joined to my right by the commissioner of the department of health. Through her right, another person who needs very little introduction, the states epidemiologist. Thank you both for being here. A guide to my left is the superintendent of state police pat callahan. The director of the office of Homeland Security and preparedness is with us. Thank you. Numbers,we get to the ive a couple of announcements to lead with. Both relate to write directly to the road back plan we announced last week which will guide our restart and recovery. Signing any i am executive order to create the governors restart and recovery Advisory Council. Togethercil will bring leaders from various industry, community and faithbased groups and institutions across our state. Literally hundreds of people to
How COVID pandemic is reshaping rituals of death and the way we mourn
Katy Butler
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Until COVID-19 vaccination is widespread, the disease will continue to reshape how we die, how we honor the dead, how we mourn and how we live.Getty Images
So ingrained is the family death vigil that during the Civil War, dying soldiers sometimes pulled out family photographs to create it in their imaginations. Today, while families cry on sidewalks, thousands die of COVID attended only by nurses and aides holding iPads and dressed in hazmat suits.
Just as visceral is our unspoken promise to handle the bodies of the dead with reverence. In the powerful Greek tragedy, Antigone refuses to leave her disgraced brother’s body to be “chewed up by birds and dogs and violated.” Now, during COVID surges, the dead are stacked in refrigerator trucks.
Covid is reshaping death and maybe life
We will remain for the foreseeable future, masked and semi-isolated, in a world as suddenly vulnerable to pestilence as it was in 1918
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The desire to die in the presence of those we love is so deeply ingrained that during the Civil War, soldiers dying on battlefields pulled out family photographs to create the experience in their imaginations. In 2020, the face-to-face family death vigil largely became an impossible luxury. While relatives wept on sidewalks, people with Covid died in isolation by the tens of thousands, attended only by masked nurses and aides holding iPads and dressed in hazmat suits.