One Million

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/podcasts/the-daily/one-million-death-coronavirus.html

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This episode contains strong language.

Hilma Wolitzer lost her husband, Morty Wolitzer, a psychologist who loved cooking and jazz, on April 11, 2020. They had been together for 68 years.

Mary-Margaret Waterbury’s uncle Michael Mantlo had introduced her to Nirvana, grunge and Elvis Costello. “Light sparkled from him,” she said.

After Terrie Martin’s first born, April Marie Dawson, died at age 43, Ms. Martin said she carried around guilt for not taking more precautions. “I killed my daughter,” she said. “And I have learned nothing from loss.”

Carmen Nitsche’s mother, Carmen Dolores Nitsche, died on May 14, 2020. They were only a few miles apart, but she said she was unable to hold her mother’s hand on her final journey.

Katherine Brooks lost her husband, William Brooks, on August 16, 2021. Their daughter was 4 months old at the time. “All he ever wanted was to be a father,” she said. “I miss him every day.”

In the coming days, the number of known deaths from Covid-19 in the United States is expected to reach one million.

We asked listeners to share memories about loved ones they have lost — and about what it’s like to grieve when it seems like the rest of the world is trying to move on.

“Time keeps moving forward, and the world desperately wants to move past this pandemic,” one told us. “But my mother — she’s still gone.”

As the United States approaches a Covid toll that only hints at the suffering of millions more Americans mourning loved ones, President Biden urged vigilance against a virus that has “forever changed” the country.

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