Obituaries Reflect the Story of the Pandemic

Once, most of us grieved at funerals. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic restricting people from attending public events, people are increasingly mourning their losses — and measuring the epidemic’s toll — in the obituary pages.

‘A Haunting Reminder’

For many, the growing volume of obituaries serves as a sobering testament to the epidemic’s growing impact.

• Obituary Trends During the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic in Various U.S. Cities
• A stark reality: Sunday’s Boston Globe runs 16 pages of death notices.
• Pages of obituaries haunting reminder of COVID-19's toll.
• Newspapers around the country are running more and more death notices as the coronavirus spreads.
• Canadian newspapers are publishing more death notices.

‘A Humanized Crisis’

For others, the individual life stories told in each obituary are providing the personal context needed to understand the pandemic’s scope.

• Remembering the Dead: Obituary Writers Restore Humanity to Covid-19 Crisis.
• 'A deluge of death': how reading obituaries can humanise a crisis.
• What You Learn When You Read Obituaries.

‘Obituary Pages Are Where We Mourn’

Finally, many have noted how the limits of social-distancing have shifted the way we mourn, with obituaries — and those who write them — assuming an important role in that process.

• As the Pandemic Forces Us to Abandon Rituals of Grief, Obituary Pages Are Where We Mourn.
• Obituarists are busier than ever as pandemic takes its toll.
• How will we grieve once the coronavirus pandemic is over?
• Telling the Stories of the Dead Is Essential Work.

To learn more about how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the way we remember those we’ve lost, explore our library of epidemic coverage.