Keep in mind everyone who lost a loved one in the past year, to any cause, not just Covid, was denied traditional funeral rites!

rational Asian-American guy who groks the difference between a 1,000 per year and 3,000 a day, grieving for another tribe:

Real people, human beings, he relates

The Grief Crisis Is Coming

For each person who dies of Covid-19, experts say there are at least nine newly bereaved. We must begin to address the toll.

By Allison Gilbert (Ms. Gilbert is an author who writes extensively about grief and resilience. Her latest book is “Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive.”) @ NYTimes.com, April 12, 2021

[....] We first need to get a sense of the scope of our national grief. Researchers are just beginning to count the bereaved, and while current estimates suggest five million Americans have lost a loved one to Covid-19, the final tally is likely to be much larger.

Ashton Verdery, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University, recently led a study that introduced the Covid-19 Bereavement Multiplier. By his team’s calculus, for every person who dies of Covid-19, nine loved ones are left behind.

To arrive at that number, the researchers included the losses of spouses, siblings, parents, children and grandparents. If other relatives — like nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, stepparents — and friends are taken into account, “you may get 10 times or more” people in grief, Mr. Verdery said.

I know, from losing my parents at a young age, that grief plays out in waves across one’s life and has no clear ending. We should be prepared for another health catastrophe; while the Covid-19 vaccines can put a cap on the burden, they can’t halt or alleviate the pain. A recent study found that at least 37,000 children in the United States have lost a parent to Covid-19 so far.

[....]

The effects of grief can be as physical as the symptoms of any disease. The short- and long-term impacts are well studied and include trouble sleeping, higher blood pressure, depression and anxiety. Studies have found that people who lose a spouse die earlier than their married peers. Children who experience loss of a parent may suffer lasting consequences, including lower grades and failing in school, as well as increased experimentation with drugs and alcohol.

The social effects can be drastic as well. Nearly 90 percent of young people in the juvenile justice system report having experienced the death of at least one loved one. And although grief is a universal experience, it can contribute to lifelong racial inequality, as Black Americans experience the loss of loved ones far more frequently and earlier in life than white Americans, contributing to differences in mental and physical health outcomes.

“Grief should be investigated the same way we examine other public health indicators like obesity, smoking and drinking,” said Dr. Toni Miles, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia.

After conducting a statewide health survey three years ago, Dr. Miles discovered that 45 percent of Georgia residents over 18 indicated they were newly bereaved. The findings suggested that grief was far more prevalent than the other three risk factors, she said [....]