In its cruel aftermath, the disease that brought this barrage of death alters rituals of the grieving process. Families say goodbye by video, or in a brief moment at a hospital bed while dressed in personal protective equipment. Funerals are small and distanced.
Most people who contract COVID-19 will survive, and age and specific underlying conditions play a role in who is most likely to die. But for each death, there s a web of family and friends left mourning.
Sharing these losses is difficult for many of the bereaved; it can be therapeutic, though a way to say goodbye, to honor and celebrate the people they loved.
and last updated 2020-12-14 00:16:26-05
GLOBE, AZ â After losing his battle to COVID-19, a former firefighter and first responder in Globe was given a special procession to bring his body back home.
On Thursday, Damien Jerome Lopez, 51, known as D.J. to friends and family, passed away due to COVID-19. On Saturday, Lopez s body was transported from Phoenix to Globe via fire engine with firefighters from multiple counties joining the procession. We saw our entire town stand still to pay respects to my dad, said Vanessa Zupancic, one of Lopez s five daughters. The magnitude of that is just mind blowing.