The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

Crackers Phinn · May 5, 2020

From my neighbors up north of the Mitten state with the filthier water
Woman arraigned in fatal shooting of Flint security guard over face mask

FLINT, MI -- One of three suspects in the May 1 shooting death of a security guard at Family Dollar in Flint has appeared in court on a charge of murder.

Appearing on a TV screen and clad in a cloth mask, Sharmel L. Teague, 45, of Flint, was arraigned Tuesday, May 5, 2020 by Genesee District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry on first-degree murder and felony firearm charges.

The charges stem from the May 1, 2020 shooting death of 43-year-old Calvin James Munerlyn.

A security guard at the Family Dollar off East Fifth Avenue in Flint, Munerlyn was shot around 1:45 p.m. May 1 allegedly following a dispute over a customer not wearing a mask into the store.

It’s alleged Teague and Munerlyn got into a verbal dispute after he told the woman’s daughter she needed to wear a face mask while inside the store.

a group of people around each other: About 150 people gather to commemorate the life of Calvin Munerlyn on Sunday, May 3, 2020 in Flint. Munerlyn, 43, was shot and killed Friday, May 1 at the Family Dollar store off of East Fifth Avenue in Flint. He'd worked at the store as a security guard for a little more than one year.
3 charged in fatal shooting of guard enforcing mask use at Flint store

The woman’s daughter then left the store, but her mother began to yell at Munerlyn. He told the mother to leave the store and instructed a cashier not to serve her, according to investigative reports of the incident turned over to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton.

During a May 4 press conference, Leyton said there is video surveillance of the altercation between Teague and Munerlyn.

A short time later, Teague returned to the store with her 44-year-old husband and her 23-year-old son and confronted Munerlyn.

Leyton pointed out the wife called the husband between leaving in a red GMC Envoy to River Village Apartments and coming back to the store 20 minutes later with two men who came inside the store.

The 44-year-old man yelled at Munerlyn about disrespecting his wife, with the 23-year-old man accused of pulling out a gun and shooting Munerlyn in the back of the head, Leyton said.

Munerlyn was transported to Hurley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Leyton has announced murder and felony firearm charges against the two men, but they are still being sought by police.

As of late Tuesday morning, Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser said the men are not in custody.

3 charged in fatal shooting of guard enforcing mask use at Flint store

The men are being sought by the Michigan State Police fugitive team. Leyton warned anyone helping the pair evade enforcement may also be charged with a crime.
.

“They must know that they’re being sought. They are armed and dangerous,” he said. “We will bring them to justice.”

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call 911 or report a tip anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Flint & Genesee County at at 1-800-422-5245, use the P3TIPS mobile app, or visit CrimeStoppersofFlint.com.

Teague is held in the Genesee County Jail without bond. She’s due back in court May 14 for a probable cause conference.

Jmartjrmd · May 5, 2020

It's so crazy, sad and infuriating how easily someone will take a life over the stupidest stuff.

A 7yo was killed in my state and his sister..I think she was 12, when someone shot up their house. There were 7 kids in the home.
Senseless

discodumpling · May 5, 2020

So today, after the Pence mask issue last week #45 toured a mask factory sans mask. #45 and the men who toured the factory with him...none of em wore a mask on a tour of a factory that manufactures masks.
I believe they've already been vaccinated. Lets wait for side effects.

Black Ambrosia · May 5, 2020

discodumpling said:
So today, after the Pence mask issue last week #45 toured a mask factory sans mask. #45 and the men who toured the factory with him...none of em wore a mask on a tour of a factory that manufactures masks.
I believe they've already been vaccinated. Lets wait for side effects.

I'd believe it if I thought they gave a :censored:

but they don't. As long as everybody else wears a mask they're good because they can carry on like normal.

MzRhonda · May 5, 2020

gn1g said:
Have you all heard that the reason trump, pence and etal don't wear mask is because they've already been vaccinated? according to a hot mic at a press conference.

I have heard that

King of Sorrow · May 5, 2020

meka72 said:
I’ve not heard that. I heard that they don’t wear masks because they get tested everyday and that everyone they have regular contact with also gets tested everyday.

You mean, kind of like how adult film actors get regular STD tests since they don't wear condoms? That's the strategy?

Black Ambrosia · May 5, 2020

Black Ambrosia · May 5, 2020

The Virus Is Taking Away Our Homegoings
Services, repasts, and second lines are empty since the ’rona stripped our funeral traditions
Biba Adams

Paulbearers carry the casket during a jazz funeral held for local bass drummer Lionel Batiste July 20, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In December 2020, my grandmother would have turned 90 years old. From the dawn of this new year, my family had already started working on her birthday party. By March, we had picked a venue and a caterer and were having a hard time narrowing down the guest list to 100 people.

But due to Covid-19, we went from planning a big birthday party to planning her funeral. And that guest list? We could barely convince 10 people to attend.

My family and I would have loved to send off our beloved Mother Minnie Head in a big beautiful way. This virus has taken that from us. A titan of Detroit’s New Testament Church of God in Christ, her pre-Covid-19 homegoing service would have brought out hundreds of people. It would have been magnificent, spirit-filled, and anchored by the serenade of a full gospel choir. Instead, my grandmother was laid to rest by a handful of her grandchildren wearing masks and gloves in an empty church.

My family is not unusual. Covid-19 has changed the way we send our loved ones home. A funeral is one thing; a homegoing — well, that’s something else. In the Black community, the tradition of laying a loved one to rest is filled with pageantry.

The virus has taken away our ability to celebrate in our distinct way, and that is another trauma that will last us all for a long time.

Noted psychologist Dr. Rose Moten explains this loss: “What we have now is [families] planning a funeral that [their] family can’t really come to. And we are so worried about what’s going to hit next that it’s hard to start the grieving process, because now we’re constantly in a state of uncertainty.”

“I have never seen anything like this before in my life. We are overrun with bodies and calls.”

With more than 61,000 Americans lost to Covid-19 or complications caused by the virus, the sad fact is that the end of this viral journey for many will be a funeral service. And often that service will be via Zoom or another streaming platform, because it’s just too dangerous to gather in large numbers. In Michigan’s Wayne County, where Detroit is located, the death toll is nearing 2,000, with more than 40% of those victims being African American.

Ozie Pye IV, of O.H. Pye III Funeral Home in Detroit, explains what the crisis has been like inside the funeral service industry. “I have never seen anything like this before in my life. We are overrun with bodies and calls,” Pye says. “It has been absolutely incredible. I have no frame of reference for this. The only thing I could compare it to would be like some war movie I’ve seen on television.”

The O.H. Pye III Funeral Home is operating with a reduced staff. Several people on Pye’s staff are immunocompromised or have family members who are, so many of them chose to self-quarantine. Pye explained that he regularly sanitizes the entire building. Not just for safety, but to alleviate some fears.

“[My staff members] who are still here are working twice as hard to do all that they can,” Pye explains. “A lot of them weren’t trained in other areas of the business, because that’s not what they do. So we have had to make a lot of creative changes internally. We are doing three times the volume with one-third of the staff.”

Pye says that the volume of work, and his own staff’s fears about the virus, is taking an emotional toll on them all. “Trying to be a leader here and trying to put on a good face to keep everyone motivated to do this. There were a few days when people wanted to throw their hands up and just leave,” he says.

Pye explains that his funeral home, as well as others in the area, have had issues getting enough PPE to protect their staff. He has also had to order additional equipment. “We actually just bought a second cooler that holds 20 bodies,” he says. “The new cooler just arrived a few minutes ago, and by tomorrow it will more than likely be full.”

The funeral home is also dealing with staff members who are losing loved ones. Pye himself lost an aunt and uncle, yet he’s working so hard that he has not been able to take time to grieve.

Pye urges families to be patient with funeral homes, as the sheer volume of cases has placed a strain not only on their businesses but also on the state and local agencies they depend on to process paperwork. Further, he notes that they will not budge from complying with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order that more than 10 people cannot gather at once.

Because the losses associated with the virus are so devastating, with many people losing multiple family members and friends, a collective grief is taking place. In several major metro areas, especially in Detroit and New York City, there is almost no one who has not been touched by the crisis.

“If you lose someone in a car accident or through an illness, and you were the only one among your friend group or peer group, you can oftentimes feel even more lonely, feeling like no one understands your pain,” says Moten, adding that in this crisis, there is a “sense of connectedness, overwhelming connectedness we have because we are not alone. We are not alone in this whole grieving process, and that adds something. It doesn’t take away from grief, [but] it does add some sense of comfort in knowing that the intense, visceral pain of loss is something that others can understand.”

Traditionally, this funerary process celebrates the life of the deceased and helps the living survivors grieve with family and begin the process of moving on. Within the Black community, these end-of-life services and ceremonies differ distinctly from those of our White counterparts. They are a uniquely cultural series of ceremonies. One of the more important aspects of at he Black funeral, and among the highest rituals in the African American community, is the way we celebrate the repast.

The repast is, all at once, communal, spiritual, a showcase of the performing arts, and physically refreshing. The event is a meal that is personally and lovingly cooked by the community, paired with a fellowship and sharing of memories immediately following the funeral services. Typically held at someone’s home or in the church basement, the repast is a reunion for family and friends and allows many of us to have a release of emotions that helps bring healing and closure.

Jamon Jordan, a historian and founder of Black Scroll Tours, a historical tourism business in Detroit, explains that the repast emerged in Black culture when Africans were brought to America during the period of slavery. “Our ancestors brought their funerary ideas from Africa, along with creating new rituals that would address their conditions in America,” Jordan says.

“In the Black community in particular, death care, homegoing, and burial traditions in New Orleans are based in rituals that have been passed on for six to 10 generations.”

Jordan explains that most slave owners did not allow enslaved Africans to have a communal funeral when their loved ones died. In fact, many slave owners prohibited any gathering of five or more Black people without a White person present, except for work.

This fact may be particularly poignant for Black families who once again cannot gather in large groups to bury their dead.

End-of-life services vary among African Americans, particularly evolving in certain geographic areas. One of the places where funeral services are most unique is New Orleans.

“In the Black community in particular, death care, homegoing, and burial traditions in New Orleans are based in rituals that have been passed on for six to 10 generations,” says Jocelyne Ninneman, who laments the deaths in her city. The process of helping New Orleanians who have fallen to Covid-19 has been daunting. The virus has claimed more than 750 lives in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. The devastation brings back dark memories of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Ninneman is the project manager for the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame. She has worked with several families who have lost loved ones, helping them plan funeral services without the traditional pageantry of a beloved jazz funeral complete with a second line parade.

“A second line is one of this community’s most hallmark rituals,” Ninneman explains. “It celebrates a soul’s freedom. Rather than mourn the loss of a community member, friends and family and neighbors parade and dance and make food for the family to celebrate that person’s life and who they were in their positive spirit.”

Ninneman also explains that because music is such a huge part of New Orleans daily life and family culture, many horn players have been standing on porches or sidewalks, playing solo or as a duet (six feet apart) for family, friends, and neighbors to calm nerves and provide a cathartic respite as close to regular cultural practice as possible.

The process is further comforting to families because some New Orleanians believe death means the person’s soul is free from the disparities and harshness of its life on this earth. Instead, Ninneman helps some families find the joy in a homegoing in a smaller, more intimate manner. She has been helping families organize livestreams and alternative virtual tributes.

A deceased man’s casket is carried into his favorite neighborhood bar, so all can share a final drink during his traditional jazz funeral in New Orleans.

Pastor Tish Atkins, of Tampa, Florida, says a funeral is a celebration of “the imminent entrance of our loved one into the hands of God.” She notes that African Americans are a “resourceful and resilient people.” While the ability to mourn together has been delayed, she says, “it will never be denied.”

Pastor Atkins adds that for those who mourn, knowing that others care can mean a lot. “As long as we know that we are thought about and not forgotten, it helps even if someone can’t reach out and touch you,” she says.

Yet, the loss of end-of-life traditions has made the effects of the virus that much harsher.

Jamon Jordan lost his mother to Covid-19 on March 28 and held a memorial with seven people. Usually, a burial and the car procession can be 20 to 100 cars deep, with up to 100 people swaying and singing graveside to usher their loved one back to the earth.

Many cemeteries are prohibiting people from coming in for the burials or visiting the burial sites. Adds Jordan, “Although it is fully understandable that these important institutions are taking precautions due to the danger of spreading the coronavirus, the ending of public homegoing ceremonies deals a horrible blow to centuries of African American culture in which public rituals honor the ancestors on their way to the afterlife.”

As for my family, we have been devastated by the crisis three times over. In fact, my own mother succumbed to the virus on March 22. As an only child, and her next of kin, I am opting to bypass a traditional funeral and have a direct cremation with the hopes of a more public celebration when the crisis abates. But with the news that there may be a resurgence of the virus in the fall, there is no clue for when that could be.

Dr. Moten eloquently expresses the sense of numbness that I and many others are experiencing: “As a part of an evolutionary protective mechanism, we have in some ways dissociated. (Many of us) have desensitized, and we’ve numbed ourselves.” She explains that the numbness is only temporary: “Eventually, the floodgates of grief are going to open for all of us.”

meka72 · May 5, 2020

King of Sorrow said:
You mean, kind of like how adult film actors get regular STD tests since they don't wear condoms? That's the strategy?

I mean it’s basically the same thing :lachen:

UmSumayyah · May 5, 2020

King of Sorrow said:
You mean, kind of like how adult film actors get regular STD tests since they don't wear condoms? That's the strategy?

This wasn't posed to be funny but I laughed.

sunshinebeautiful · May 6, 2020

Speaking of Trump and masks, did you guys see that he's ordered branded masks to support his re-election campaign?

The bright-red MAGA hat was the must-have item for Trump supporters in 2016. In 2020, it might be replaced by a bright-red face mask.

According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump’s reelection campaign has placed an order for “red, Trump-branded face masks for supporters.” The paper says, “Campaign officials have discussed giving away the masks at events or in return for donations.”

The WSJ links the production of the masks to a broader attempt by the Trump campaign to win back waning support from seniors, a stronghold for the president that has begun to abandon him amid his shaky leadership during the coronavirus outbreak. Along with selling the masks, the campaign is planning a TV blitz and several events focused on older voters

Source: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/trump-campaign-orders-red-trump-branded-face-masks.html

shelli4018 · May 6, 2020

I wonder how much Trump makes on branded products. He’s always selling his followers something.

dancinstallion · May 6, 2020

sunshinebeautiful said:
Speaking of Trump and masks, did you guys see that he's ordered branded masks to support his re-election campaign?

The bright-red MAGA hat was the must-have item for Trump supporters in 2016. In 2020, it might be replaced by a bright-red face mask.

According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump’s reelection campaign has placed an order for “red, Trump-branded face masks for supporters.” The paper says, “Campaign officials have discussed giving away the masks at events or in return for donations.”

The WSJ links the production of the masks to a broader attempt by the Trump campaign to win back waning support from seniors, a stronghold for the president that has begun to abandon him amid his shaky leadership during the coronavirus outbreak. Along with selling the masks, the campaign is planning a TV blitz and several events focused on older voters

Source: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/trump-campaign-orders-red-trump-branded-face-masks.html

So clever yet so sad.
I think it will work in his favor. I see so many Democrats that are divided that I think Trump will win again.

MzRhonda · May 6, 2020

sunshinebeautiful said:
Speaking of Trump and masks, did you guys see that he's ordered branded masks to support his re-election campaign?

The bright-red MAGA hat was the must-have item for Trump supporters in 2016. In 2020, it might be replaced by a bright-red face mask.

According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump’s reelection campaign has placed an order for “red, Trump-branded face masks for supporters.” The paper says, “Campaign officials have discussed giving away the masks at events or in return for donations.”

The WSJ links the production of the masks to a broader attempt by the Trump campaign to win back waning support from seniors, a stronghold for the president that has begun to abandon him amid his shaky leadership during the coronavirus outbreak. Along with selling the masks, the campaign is planning a TV blitz and several events focused on older voters

Source: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/trump-campaign-orders-red-trump-branded-face-masks.html

It could backfire on him a reminder if our new normal and deaths due to him

Everything Zen · May 6, 2020

King of Sorrow said:
You mean, kind of like how adult film actors get regular STD tests since they don't wear condoms? That's the strategy?

After watching that test I don’t believe that there’s anyway in Hades Trump is subjecting himself to covid testing on a regular basis let alone daily.

gn1g · May 6, 2020

Daily testing, I highly doubt it. Trump Is so arrogant until I believe if he were vaccinated that he would act exactly like he is acting, instead of pretending that he could catch it and therefore wear a mask.

Just wondering what other countries leaders have been allegedly vaccinated.

gn1g · May 6, 2020

shelli4018 said:
I wonder how much Trump makes on branded products. He’s always selling his followers something.

I always hear the elite folks saying that trump has called them ie Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban and many other CEOs asking them about opening the country etc, probably selling them the vaccination

Everything Zen · May 6, 2020

I believe he and or Pence may have caught a low grade case and never revealed their status and were able to manage any symptoms.

UmSumayyah · May 6, 2020

Everything Zen said:
I believe he and or Pence may have caught a low grade case and never revealed their status and were able to manage any symptoms.

Remember his first formal address?

He was a bit wheezy.

Kanky · May 6, 2020

Everything Zen said:
After watching that test I don’t believe that there’s anyway in Hades Trump is subjecting himself to covid testing on a regular basis let alone daily.

Isn't there a less invasive saliva test? Alternatively, he could be having everyone that he comes in contact with tested daily.

C@ssandr@ · May 6, 2020

Black Ambrosia said:
The Virus Is Taking Away Our Homegoings
Services, repasts, and second lines are empty since the ’rona stripped our funeral traditions
Biba Adams

Paulbearers carry the casket during a jazz funeral held for local bass drummer Lionel Batiste July 20, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In December 2020, my grandmother would have turned 90 years old. From the dawn of this new year, my family had already started working on her birthday party. By March, we had picked a venue and a caterer and were having a hard time narrowing down the guest list to 100 people.

But due to Covid-19, we went from planning a big birthday party to planning her funeral. And that guest list? We could barely convince 10 people to attend.

My family and I would have loved to send off our beloved Mother Minnie Head in a big beautiful way. This virus has taken that from us. A titan of Detroit’s New Testament Church of God in Christ, her pre-Covid-19 homegoing service would have brought out hundreds of people. It would have been magnificent, spirit-filled, and anchored by the serenade of a full gospel choir. Instead, my grandmother was laid to rest by a handful of her grandchildren wearing masks and gloves in an empty church.

My family is not unusual. Covid-19 has changed the way we send our loved ones home. A funeral is one thing; a homegoing — well, that’s something else. In the Black community, the tradition of laying a loved one to rest is filled with pageantry.

The virus has taken away our ability to celebrate in our distinct way, and that is another trauma that will last us all for a long time.

Noted psychologist Dr. Rose Moten explains this loss: “What we have now is [families] planning a funeral that [their] family can’t really come to. And we are so worried about what’s going to hit next that it’s hard to start the grieving process, because now we’re constantly in a state of uncertainty.”

“I have never seen anything like this before in my life. We are overrun with bodies and calls.”

With more than 61,000 Americans lost to Covid-19 or complications caused by the virus, the sad fact is that the end of this viral journey for many will be a funeral service. And often that service will be via Zoom or another streaming platform, because it’s just too dangerous to gather in large numbers. In Michigan’s Wayne County, where Detroit is located, the death toll is nearing 2,000, with more than 40% of those victims being African American.

Ozie Pye IV, of O.H. Pye III Funeral Home in Detroit, explains what the crisis has been like inside the funeral service industry. “I have never seen anything like this before in my life. We are overrun with bodies and calls,” Pye says. “It has been absolutely incredible. I have no frame of reference for this. The only thing I could compare it to would be like some war movie I’ve seen on television.”

The O.H. Pye III Funeral Home is operating with a reduced staff. Several people on Pye’s staff are immunocompromised or have family members who are, so many of them chose to self-quarantine. Pye explained that he regularly sanitizes the entire building. Not just for safety, but to alleviate some fears.

“[My staff members] who are still here are working twice as hard to do all that they can,” Pye explains. “A lot of them weren’t trained in other areas of the business, because that’s not what they do. So we have had to make a lot of creative changes internally. We are doing three times the volume with one-third of the staff.”

Pye says that the volume of work, and his own staff’s fears about the virus, is taking an emotional toll on them all. “Trying to be a leader here and trying to put on a good face to keep everyone motivated to do this. There were a few days when people wanted to throw their hands up and just leave,” he says.

Pye explains that his funeral home, as well as others in the area, have had issues getting enough PPE to protect their staff. He has also had to order additional equipment. “We actually just bought a second cooler that holds 20 bodies,” he says. “The new cooler just arrived a few minutes ago, and by tomorrow it will more than likely be full.”

The funeral home is also dealing with staff members who are losing loved ones. Pye himself lost an aunt and uncle, yet he’s working so hard that he has not been able to take time to grieve.

Pye urges families to be patient with funeral homes, as the sheer volume of cases has placed a strain not only on their businesses but also on the state and local agencies they depend on to process paperwork. Further, he notes that they will not budge from complying with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order that more than 10 people cannot gather at once.

Because the losses associated with the virus are so devastating, with many people losing multiple family members and friends, a collective grief is taking place. In several major metro areas, especially in Detroit and New York City, there is almost no one who has not been touched by the crisis.

“If you lose someone in a car accident or through an illness, and you were the only one among your friend group or peer group, you can oftentimes feel even more lonely, feeling like no one understands your pain,” says Moten, adding that in this crisis, there is a “sense of connectedness, overwhelming connectedness we have because we are not alone. We are not alone in this whole grieving process, and that adds something. It doesn’t take away from grief, [but] it does add some sense of comfort in knowing that the intense, visceral pain of loss is something that others can understand.”

Traditionally, this funerary process celebrates the life of the deceased and helps the living survivors grieve with family and begin the process of moving on. Within the Black community, these end-of-life services and ceremonies differ distinctly from those of our White counterparts. They are a uniquely cultural series of ceremonies. One of the more important aspects of at he Black funeral, and among the highest rituals in the African American community, is the way we celebrate the repast.

The repast is, all at once, communal, spiritual, a showcase of the performing arts, and physically refreshing. The event is a meal that is personally and lovingly cooked by the community, paired with a fellowship and sharing of memories immediately following the funeral services. Typically held at someone’s home or in the church basement, the repast is a reunion for family and friends and allows many of us to have a release of emotions that helps bring healing and closure.

Jamon Jordan, a historian and founder of Black Scroll Tours, a historical tourism business in Detroit, explains that the repast emerged in Black culture when Africans were brought to America during the period of slavery. “Our ancestors brought their funerary ideas from Africa, along with creating new rituals that would address their conditions in America,” Jordan says.

“In the Black community in particular, death care, homegoing, and burial traditions in New Orleans are based in rituals that have been passed on for six to 10 generations.”

Jordan explains that most slave owners did not allow enslaved Africans to have a communal funeral when their loved ones died. In fact, many slave owners prohibited any gathering of five or more Black people without a White person present, except for work.

This fact may be particularly poignant for Black families who once again cannot gather in large groups to bury their dead.

End-of-life services vary among African Americans, particularly evolving in certain geographic areas. One of the places where funeral services are most unique is New Orleans.

“In the Black community in particular, death care, homegoing, and burial traditions in New Orleans are based in rituals that have been passed on for six to 10 generations,” says Jocelyne Ninneman, who laments the deaths in her city. The process of helping New Orleanians who have fallen to Covid-19 has been daunting. The virus has claimed more than 750 lives in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. The devastation brings back dark memories of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Ninneman is the project manager for the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame. She has worked with several families who have lost loved ones, helping them plan funeral services without the traditional pageantry of a beloved jazz funeral complete with a second line parade.

“A second line is one of this community’s most hallmark rituals,” Ninneman explains. “It celebrates a soul’s freedom. Rather than mourn the loss of a community member, friends and family and neighbors parade and dance and make food for the family to celebrate that person’s life and who they were in their positive spirit.”

Ninneman also explains that because music is such a huge part of New Orleans daily life and family culture, many horn players have been standing on porches or sidewalks, playing solo or as a duet (six feet apart) for family, friends, and neighbors to calm nerves and provide a cathartic respite as close to regular cultural practice as possible.

The process is further comforting to families because some New Orleanians believe death means the person’s soul is free from the disparities and harshness of its life on this earth. Instead, Ninneman helps some families find the joy in a homegoing in a smaller, more intimate manner. She has been helping families organize livestreams and alternative virtual tributes.

A deceased man’s casket is carried into his favorite neighborhood bar, so all can share a final drink during his traditional jazz funeral in New Orleans.

Pastor Tish Atkins, of Tampa, Florida, says a funeral is a celebration of “the imminent entrance of our loved one into the hands of God.” She notes that African Americans are a “resourceful and resilient people.” While the ability to mourn together has been delayed, she says, “it will never be denied.”

Pastor Atkins adds that for those who mourn, knowing that others care can mean a lot. “As long as we know that we are thought about and not forgotten, it helps even if someone can’t reach out and touch you,” she says.

Yet, the loss of end-of-life traditions has made the effects of the virus that much harsher.

Jamon Jordan lost his mother to Covid-19 on March 28 and held a memorial with seven people. Usually, a burial and the car procession can be 20 to 100 cars deep, with up to 100 people swaying and singing graveside to usher their loved one back to the earth.

Many cemeteries are prohibiting people from coming in for the burials or visiting the burial sites. Adds Jordan, “Although it is fully understandable that these important institutions are taking precautions due to the danger of spreading the coronavirus, the ending of public homegoing ceremonies deals a horrible blow to centuries of African American culture in which public rituals honor the ancestors on their way to the afterlife.”

As for my family, we have been devastated by the crisis three times over. In fact, my own mother succumbed to the virus on March 22. As an only child, and her next of kin, I am opting to bypass a traditional funeral and have a direct cremation with the hopes of a more public celebration when the crisis abates. But with the news that there may be a resurgence of the virus in the fall, there is no clue for when that could be.

Dr. Moten eloquently expresses the sense of numbness that I and many others are experiencing: “As a part of an evolutionary protective mechanism, we have in some ways dissociated. (Many of us) have desensitized, and we’ve numbed ourselves.” She explains that the numbness is only temporary: “Eventually, the floodgates of grief are going to open for all of us.”

With the seemingly legit information quoted here, a part of me wonders what the conspiracy theorists think. Especially those who think the infection rate is exaggerated or that this is a hoax.

And then a part of me doesn't wonder.

shelli4018 · May 6, 2020

gn1g said:
Daily testing, I highly doubt it. Trump Is so arrogant until I believe if he were vaccinated that he would act exactly like he is acting, instead of pretending that he could catch it and therefore wear a mask.

Just wondering what other countries leaders have been allegedly vaccinated.

If he were vaccinated why not other Western leaders like Boris Johnson who is a Trump ally? Also Trump mentee Jair Bolsonaro behaves just like Trump. He visited Mar-a-lago 2 or 3 months ago. His aide fell ill tho.

shelli4018 · May 6, 2020

dancinstallion said:
So clever yet so sad.
I think it will work in his favor. I see so many Democrats that are divided that I think Trump will win again.

I think it will have little effect.

Democrats tend to shoot themselves in the foot anyway. Their addiction to purity tests ties them in knots all the time. Luckily the Lincoln Project runs ads Dems should but won’t.

Theres a good chance Trump will lose in November. But not before tearing the country up. I feel for the administration attempting to fix a looted plague-riddled country. While they’re busy with the thankless task of clean up Trump TV will be taking off.

shelli4018 · May 6, 2020

gn1g said:
I always hear the elite folks saying that trump has called them ie Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban and many other CEOs asking them about opening the country etc, probably selling them the vaccination

I do think they’re trying to cash in on a vaccination. But they don’t have one yet. Hopefully many others will find a breakthrough and disappoint them. There’s a global race to find a cure at the moment.

Kanky · May 6, 2020

shelli4018 said:
I think it will have little effect.

Democrats tend to shoot themselves in the foot anyway. Their addiction to purity tests ties them in knots all the time. Luckily the Lincoln Project runs ads Dems should but won’t.

Theres a good chance Trump will lose in November. But not before tearing the country up. I feel for the administration attempting to fix a looted plague-riddled country. While they’re busy with the thankless task of clean up Trump TV will be taking off.

Democrats might win in November because they are always the clean up crew for Republican screw ups. But suddenly there will be no money and too much debt for any progressive policies, then two years in they will be hobbled during the midterms. Things will improve just enough that people will get comfortable and want tax breaks and needling of groups that they don't like (black people, gay people ect) and then the GOP will be back in. GOP will take credit for the improvements that started way before they got in office and ruin things again. Rinse repeat.

meka72 · May 6, 2020

Kanky said:
Democrats might win in November because they are always the clean up crew for Republican screw ups. But suddenly there will be no money and too much debt for any progressive policies, then two years in they will be hobbled during the midterms. Things will improve just enough that people will get comfortable and want tax breaks and needling of groups that they don't like (black people, gay people ect) and then the GOP will be back in. GOP will take credit for the improvements that started way before they got in office and ruin things again. Rinse repeat.

Happens like clockwork.

Everything Zen · May 6, 2020

Kanky said:
Isn't there a less invasive saliva test? Alternatively, he could be having everyone that he comes in contact with tested daily.

haven’t heard of any other less invasive tests but I could see him being such a narcissist to subject everyone around him to daily testing

fluffyforever · May 6, 2020

King of Sorrow said:
You mean, kind of like how adult film actors get regular STD tests since they don't wear condoms? That's the strategy?

Yes, except this doesn’t make sense to me because unlike with stds, you don’t have a choice on when you get exposed and by whom or what. Also, std test results are produced much faster. Doesn’t Covid-19’s test take like 5-7 days? They could get infected and spread it before they even know they have it.

This tells me that there is either a vaccine they were given months ago or they really are stupid, which I already know they are, so I’m leaning towards them having a preliminary vaccine.

shelli4018 · May 6, 2020

Kanky said:
Democrats might win in November because they are always the clean up crew for Republican screw ups. But suddenly there will be no money and too much debt for any progressive policies, then two years in they will be hobbled during the midterms. Things will improve just enough that people will get comfortable and want tax breaks and needling of groups that they don't like (black people, gay people ect) and then the GOP will be back in. GOP will take credit for the improvements that started way before they got in office and ruin things again. Rinse repeat.

And in the interest of “fairness” Biden will attempt bipartisanship and hold no one accountable for the last 4 years. Republicans will hate him for his weakness and shank him at every turn. A black VP will reignite the red hot racism that animates the Right. While Trump and company fan the flames from their media empire.

I doubt we’ll see transformational change with a Biden Administration. But we may get back on track with climate change, healthcare and SCOTUS.

ScorpioBeauty09 · May 6, 2020

shelli4018 said:
And in the interest of “fairness” Biden will attempt bipartisanship and hold no one accountable for the last 4 years. Republicans will hate him for his weakness and shank him at every turn. A black VP will reignite the red hot racism that animates the Right. While Trump and company fan the flames from their media empire.

I doubt we’ll see transformational change with a Biden Administration. But we may get back on track with climate change, healthcare and SCOTUS.

Biden was never going to be a transformational president. Before the pandemic he ran on not changing anything. He's said at least 3x that when Trump is out, the Republicans will snap back to 'normal' and act like a rational party again.

There's no reason to believe this has changed.

As a candidate Biden may move a smidgen leftward on economics, like he's indicated possible interest in some student loan forgiveness but his economic policy is the same previous presidents in the modern era. Including Obama. People forget he ran like a progressive but governed from the center-right. There hasn't been enough economic pain to make me think Biden will help people if things continue to unravel economically. Now he'll listen to the experts on covid-19, won't pick fights with governors and that's great. He'll work to keep the ACA in tact but he's not going to do much to expand access to healthcare.

The main difference between Trump and Biden is on the social scale. Trump is a white nationalist authoritarian. Biden's promised a black SCOTUS justice, nominally he's pro-choice, he'll protect LGBTQIA etc.

But no matter who becomes president, we're in for it.

The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

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