Copy shortlink:
An early riser, Willmar funeral director Nathan Streed usually begins his days around 6 a.m. and clocks out at 5:30 most evenings.
But recently his phone just keeps ringing, as COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly throughout Minnesota, claiming more than 4,400 lives and counting. You don t turn it off at night, said Streed, owner of Harvey Anderson and Johnson Funeral Homes, with six locations in central Minnesota. It s always on your mind.
Since the pandemic struck last spring, much attention has focused on the nation s first responders, the medical workers on the front lines. But relatively little heed has been given to the last responders funeral directors like Streed, who must make sense of these new and unfamiliar deaths and help guide the evolution in how we mourn them.