![Lights surround the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, placed as a memorial to COVID-19 victims Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington, after President-elect Joe Biden spoke, with the U.S. Capitol in the background.](https://will.illinois.edu/images/npr/_small/AP21019854556625.jpg)
Mourning in a Pandemic
COVID-19 has killed nearly 20,000 Illinoisans. And for the family left behind, rituals of mourning have been curtailed or prevented. We talk about saying goodbye in a pandemic with the Rev. Marshall Hatch, pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago's West Garfield neighborhood; he and his community have been hard-hit by COVID. We also spoke with SIU-Edwardsville Prof. Jocelyn DeGroot, who studies death and grieving, and is the author of The New York Times op-ed, "What Should You Say When Someone is Grieving?" And Kevin Rafferty, president of Rafferty Funeral Home in Moline.