By Cindy Loose
Kaiser Health News/TNS
Funeral director Kevin Spitzer has been overwhelmed with COVID-19-related deaths in the small city of Aberdeen, SD.
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.
As COVID-19 has spread from big cities to rural communities, it has stressed not only hospitals, but also what some euphemistically call “last responders.” The crush has overwhelmed morgues, funeral homes and religious leaders, required ingenuity and even changed the rituals of honoring the dead.
Last Responders brace for surge in COVID deaths across US | State
fairfieldsuntimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fairfieldsuntimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last Responders brace for surge in COVID deaths across US | Coronavirus
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Tribes decide how they get COVID-19 vaccines. Here s what tribes in Montana chose. Nora Mabie, Great Falls Tribune © PETER HAMLIN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS As COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Montana, many tribal members are left wondering when their vulnerable communities will be immunized.
As Native American tribes are sovereign nations, they and their health care providers have the option to receive COVID-19 vaccines through state or federal channels.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Blackfeet Nation and Little Shell Tribe elected to receive their allocations through the state.
All five of the state s urban Indian health centers and all Indian Health Service (IHS) sites chose to receive their allocation from IHS, a federal agency, according to the governor s office.
Funeral homes, morgues grapple with surge in US Covid-19 deaths
By Cindy Loose, Kaiser Health News
Updated 3:52 PM ET, Tue December 15, 2020
Acela Truck Co. has already sold hundreds of pull-behind refrigerated morgues created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. (KHN)Funeral director Kevin Spitzer has been overwhelmed with Covid-19-related deaths in the small city of Aberdeen, South Dakota.
He and his two colleagues at the Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home are 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.