• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

USA Breaking News

Breaking News Stories from US and Around the World

  • Home
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Tech
  • Style
  • Sports
  • Travel

Unending grief of COVID-19 deaths causing problems for some

July 6, 2021 by www.independent.co.uk Leave a Comment

Kelly Brown’s 74-year-old father got sick first with COVID-19, followed by her 71-year-old mom just two days later. John and Judy Trzebiatowski died of the illness just a week apart last August, sending Brown into a black tunnel of grief that doesn’t seem to have an end.

Health restrictions stripped away the things that normally help people deal with death, such as bedside visits at the Wisconsin hospital where they were treated and a big funeral with hugs and tears, she said. That left Brown to deal with her sorrow on her own, and now she’s having a hard time seeing a way forward.

With more than 605,000 dead of COVID-19 in the United States and nearly 4 million worldwide, Brown is among the thousands or more who could be experiencing prolonged grief, the kind of mourning that experts say can prevent people from moving beyond a death and functioning normally again.

"It's the most horrible thing to have to go through," said Brown. "I would not wish this upon anyone."

Natalia Skritskaya, an expert on grieving, said it's too early to say whether prolonged grieving, also known as complicated grief, will be a major complication from the pandemic — it isn't yet over, with thousands still dying daily worldwide, including hundreds in the United States. Many mourners have yet to pass the one-year anniversary of a loss, and few studies have been published so far on the psychiatric fallout, she said.

But prolonged grief is both real and potentially debilitating, said Skritskaya, a research scientist and clinical psychologist with the Center for Complicated Grief at Columbia University in New York She noted that it can be treated with therapy in which participants talk through their experience and feelings.

"The core of it is kind of helping people face the reality of what happened," she said. "It's not an easy treatment. It's intense."

Jerri Vance said therapy has helped her deal with grief since her husband, James Vance, a retired police officer in Bluefield, West Virginia, died of COVID-19 on New Year’s Day, but she worries about their two young daughters.

"Seeing my kids’ grief adds to my pain," she said. " One of my kids isn't making much progress in therapy because her daddy was her person. She is still mad at the world."

A study published in the fall predicted a likely increase in cases of prolonged grief linked to the pandemic. Already, people who lost loved ones to COVID-19 are filling social media pages with stories of tears and sadness that just won’t go away.

Many cite the loss of typical end-of-life rituals for their continual grieving; some struggle because of the unexpectedness and seeming unfairness of the coronavirus. The politicization of the pandemic is a thorn for many who constantly see and hear some argue against what health experts say are life-saving practices including vaccinations, mask wearing and social distancing.

"In my office I listen all day to unsolicited opinions and try not to engage, as it is unprofessional," said Betsy Utnick, whose father, Sheldon Polan of Selden, New York, died in April 2020. She said she still cries every day because the grief has yet to subside.

Noreen Wasti knows the feeling. She lost her father to the illness caused by the coronavirus on Dec. 27 and is having a hard time going on.

Wasti, who writes and creates online content in New York, said she’s unsure what it will take to get over the loss of Salman Wasti, 76, a retired biology professor from Glocester, Rhode Island.

"This has been the first time I've lost someone so dear to me, so I never had a map for grief nor really understood the magnitude. I always thought you're sad for a few months and then you're OK. I was so wrong,” she said. “It hits in waves and those waves feel as severe as the day we lost him."

With so many people hurting and little personal interaction for months because of pandemic health restrictions, social media has become the place where many connect to share stories of loved ones and loss. One private Facebook page dealing with COVID-19 losses has more than 10,000 members, and continuing grief is a constant thread of discussion.

Rabia Khan has found solace online since the death on Thanksgiving Day of her father, Pakistani activist Muhammad Hameedullah Khan of Chicago. In survivor and family groups, she said, the grieving don’t face insensitive questions about how a loved one contracted the virus or why someone wasn’t careful enough to avoid it.

Aside from sharing stories online of her late boyfriend Ben Schaeffer, a New York subway conductor and historian, Lisa Smid has tried to redirect her anguish into something positive. She sponsored an online lecture at the New York Transit Museum and plans to honor his legacy by endowing more memorial lectures.

"I like being able to have an event to look forward to at which I'll have an acceptable outlet for my grief as I move forward with my own life," she said.

Ann Haas of St. Paul, Minnesota, is still trying to find some sort of outlet as she mourns, but work keeps bringing her back to the worst day of her life.

Haas lost her father, Raymond Haas, to COVID-19 on Nov. 11 and works in the laundry at the same Veterans Affairs hospital where he spent his final days. Haas said memories coming flooding back each time she folds a tan blanket like the one that covered him while he was fighting to live.

"'I wish other people could see what this does to people. I hear people saying, 'This isn't real, it's nothing,'" Haas said between sobs. "I've got nothing left. I don't know if it's going to take them losing someone to understand."

  • Deaths Caused by Red Light Runners Hit a 10-Year High
  • Deaths Caused by Red Light Runners Hit a 10-Year High1 Comment
  • Deaths Caused by Drivers Running Red Lights at 10-Year High
  • Study: Selfie-related deaths are increasing with young people taking more risks
  • I couldn't write about my mother's death, so I wrote a story for young people instead
  • What Can I Say That's Actually Helpful in Times of Grief?
  • How to let grief work for you
  • Helen Garner on death and writing: 'Taking someone else's trauma into the centre of me'
  • What on earth is a death cafe?
  • All of the recent vaping deaths and controversies, explained
  • Just TWO glasses of diet drinks each day may raise the risk of an early death, reveals study by the World Health Organisation
  • EXCLUSIVE: Grieving parents of toddler who plunged 150ft to her death on Royal Caribbean stand by grandfather after he is charged and vow to sue the liner for 'inexplicably' leaving a window open in family play area
  • 'I kept breaking down in tears': Angela Bishop admits she couldn't stop crying off-camera while covering Michael Hutchence's death in 1997
  • Cystic Fibrosis drug Orkambi decision 'a death sentence'
  • Teenage son, 19, of Princess Diana's lady-in-waiting was found 98ft down on seabed after drowning while free-diving at exclusive Greek resort where he worked as a water sports instructor, inquest hears
  • Latest version of Marvel Contest of Champions causing iPhones to overheat
  • 20 Images of Devastating Coral Bleaching and Coral Death
  • Air pollution deaths are double previous estimates, finds research
  • Death By Diet Soda?
  • 19 Tips & Tricks To Speed Up Windows 10 And Make It Faster
Men and Grief: A Guide for Men Surviving the Death of a Loved One : A Resource for Caregivers and Mental Health Professional
4.2★ / $1.56
Real Cause, Real Cure: The 9 root causes of the most common health problems and how to solve them
$15.59
Sibling Grief: Healing After the Death of a Sister or Brother
check it now at Amazon
Good Grief: A Constructive Approach to the Problem of Loss
check it now at Amazon
Our Mothers' Spirits: Great Writers on the Death of Mothers and the Grief of Men
4.3★ / check it now at Amazon
Good Grief: A Constructive Approach to the Problem of Loss 1st (first) Edition by Westberg, Granger [1997]
check it now at Amazon
Evidence of Life After Death: A Casebook for the Tough-Minded
$6.79
The Theology of Suffering and Death: An Introduction for Caregivers
check it now at Amazon
Call Of The Wildman Men's Looking For Some Live Action - T-Shirt
check it now at Amazon
Narratives of COVID: Loss, Dying, Death and Grief during COVID-19
$5.99
A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine
$19.89
Death, Grief and Loss in the Context of COVID-19 (Routledge Advances in Health and Social Policy)
$160
Mental Health Effects of COVID-19
$89.94
Economics in the Age of COVID-19 (MIT Press First Reads)
$9.99
Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine
$65
Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19
$15.66
COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding The 3 Common Types Of COVID-19 Testing
$9.99
Simplified Understanding of the 3 Common Types of COVID-19 Testing
$7.99
The Gendered Face of COVID-19 in the Global South: The Development, Gender and Health Nexus
$83.95
The Class of Covid-19: Deluxe Edition: Volumes One and Two
$15.95
Diary of an Accidental Nursing Home Aide: Stories of life and death during COVID-19
$10.99
Handbook of Research on Pathophysiology and Strategies for the Management of COVID-19
$425
The Coronavirus Recovery Handbook: 19 Rehab Exercises for Mild to Severe Cases of COVID-19
$1.99
The Outbreak of Covid-19: A Medical Worker's Journal in the Heart of Italy's Pandemic
$12.95
Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19
$12.99
Getting Past the Pandemic: Exercises for Healing the Emotional Trauma of COVID-19
$12.95
A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of Life-or-Death Race for COVID-19 Vaccine by Gregory Zuckerman
$8.7
From Killer to Common Cold: Herd Protection and the Transitional Phase of Covid-19
$14.99
The Economic Cost of 2020 Pandemic: Overview of Socioeconomic Impact of COVID-19 and lessons from Past Pandemics
$2.99
COURAGE BEHIND THE MASK: A STORY OF LIFE, DEATH AND SURVIVING COVID-19
$18.98
Dictionary Of Covid- 19 Pandemic Terminology : Dictionary of Covid 19 Pandemic Terminology
$9.99
I GOT My Booster Shots!, Covid-19 Vaccination Mesh Bracelet, for Your Family and Friends That Safe from Covid-19
$19.95
The Origins and Spread of Covid-19 (Understanding the Covid-19 Pandemic)
$31.95
Stop the Spread of Covid-19
$7.59
Q3 OF COVID-19: Truths about Covid-19 Vaccines, Delta Variant, Booster doses, Immunity, Breakthrough and Coronavirus Scam
$10.99
Impact of COVID-19 on Ethiopia, East Africa
$18
The Inequality of COVID-19: Immediate Health Communication, Governance and Response in Four Indigenous Regions
$128.57
Global Pandemic, Security and Human Rights: Comparative Explorations of COVID-19 and the Law
$155
The Covid Home Companion: What YOU Need to Know About the Prevention, Symptoms and Treatment of Covid-19
$3.99
Reported cases of Covid-19 (Ringtone Version)
$0.89
From the Jawbones of Covid-19: My near-death experience with the Coronavirus
$3.67
CAUSES OF DEATH IN MEDICAL PRACTICE Guide to Thanatogenesis in the COVID-19 Disease
$12.99
US Says Wuhan China Lied About Covid-19 Death Rate | Pandemic Continues
$0.99
From Covid-19 Bed's of Death, to Life! O' Yes!
$0.99
The Fury of Covid-19: The Politics, Histories and Unrequitted Love of the Coronavirus
$21.77
THE TRUTHS AND LIES OF COVID-19 VACCINES: Updates and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions on Vaccinations
$11.99
Faith in the time of Covid-19 (Annotated)
$9.95
Clinical, Biological and Molecular Aspects of COVID-19 (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 1321)
$147.14
The Impact of COVID-19 on India and the Global Order: A Multidisciplinary Approach
$129
Into the Vast Secret of Things: Travel Memories in Time of Covid-19
$4.02
Unending grief of COVID-19 deaths causing problems for some have 1913 words, post on www.independent.co.uk at July 6, 2021. This is cached page on USA Breaking News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.

Filed Under: News News, cumulative confirmed covid-19 deaths per million, mthatha covid 19 death, covid 19 is caused by 5g, worldwide covid 19 deaths, scientists just beginning to understand the many health problems caused by covid-19, covid-19 deaths fake, covid 19 deaths where i live, confirmed covid 19 deaths, confirmed covid 19 deaths per million, researchers warn covid-19 could cause debilitating long-term illness, globally covid 19 deaths, tdcj covid 19 deaths, inverclyde covid 19 deaths, average age of covid 19 deaths, total u.s. covid 19 death, covid 19 death, nchs covid 19 deaths, autauga county covid 19 death, unconfirmed covid 19 deaths, notable covid 19 deaths

Primary Sidebar

RSS Recent Stories

  • Real Estate Eden Prairie
  • Real Estate Minnetonka
  • Average long-term mortgage rates fall; 30-year loan at 5.1%
  • Ellen DeGeneres ends daytime show with plea for compassion
  • Spanish court dismisses Shakira appeal in tax fraud case
  • ‘Stop being a propagandist’: Sen. Ted Cruz dodges questions from reporters about gun reform
  • ‘I wouldn’t trust them.’ Energy Secretary blasts Russia for ‘weaponizing’ energy
  • Wealthy shoppers are splurging at Macy’s. Low-income shoppers are pulling back at Walmart
  • Russia slams sanctions, seeks to blame West for food crisis
  • Kevin Spacey charged in UK with 4 counts of sexual assault

Sponsored Links

  • India-Việt Nam relations enjoys bipartisan support in Indian Parliament
  • PM requires localities to candidly identify hindrances of COVID-19 combat
  • Party leader honoured with Lenin Prize of Russian Communist Party
  • SABECO ensures supply chain despite pandemic
  • Đồng Tháp seeks to tap Indian investment, technology in agriculture
  • Cà Mau surpasses HCM City as Việt Nam reports 15,270 new cases of COVID-19
  • Lee Chang-kun re-appointed as Việt Nam tourism ambassador in Korea
  • Việt Nam cuts self-quarantine to three days for fully vaccinated arrivals with negative COVID-19 tests: Health ministry
  • Việt Nam confirms 15,270 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday
  • Việt Nam calls for full implementation of South Sudan’s Revitalised Peace Agreement
Copyright © 2022 USA Breaking News. Power by Wordpress.
Home - About Us - Contact Us - Disclaimers - DMCA - Privacy Policy - Submit your story