For my rebooted "In Conversation With..." - telling the stories of those whose jobs are impacted by the pandemic - I chose my interview with a funeral director, because that& #39;s the business I grew up in, and I have a tendency to talk about death a lot.

Now that I& #39;m talking about death here... I& #39;d like to share some thoughts of the funeral director I interviewed that relate directly to the handling of the pandemic. After all, we& #39;re obsessed by the death toll...but no one talks about the dead.

On what’s happening in the US: “There was no plan, because no one wants to talk about death.”
We knew the virus was deadly, but there IS no plan. Seeing that mass grave in a potter& #39;s field outside NYC, seeing the mass burials -- that stays in the psyche.

On the call for funeral directors to go to NYC: “They’re talking about people getting sick, they’re talking about masks and ventilators, but no one actually wants to talk about the dead – what is being done with the bodies and who is going to take care of them.”

My heart aches for the families who aren& #39;t bedside when their loved ones pass away. My heart aches for the nurses who try to comfort & share messages in the midst of their work & emotional overload. My heart aches for the funeral directors who know how essential their service is.