COVID-19 Deaths Month 11: January

We lost almost 100,000 Americans in one month.

 

We lost almost 100,000 Americans in one month.

 

I lost a beloved this month. It was cancer. But COVID-19 kept me from saying goodbye in person. My heart hurts. In my grief I see every maskless face as the reason we are still in the thick of this pandemic.

 

People I know are getting the vaccine. I already know people who have had their second dose. So there is light ahead. But there are also variant strains of COVID-19 spreading now. We must remain vigilant.

 

Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Six feet apart. Isolate.

 

I check the total dead each day. I have a list of numbers. Every night at midnight I light my ancestor altar. I call on those who weathered plagues and mysterious illnesses that swept through villages and cities. I call on my foremothers and fathers who lost loved ones, and those who lost their own lives in such times. I ask them to guide the dead. I ask them to watch over the living. I ask them to wrap the world in some measure of peace.

And I chant the number of souls who died that day. I chant it seven times. I wish them ease. I wish them peace. I sometimes cry for their families, for the ones who died alone. Especially for the ones who died alone. Viruses don't care about human need. I try to remember that.

It's a simple ritual. It keeps me mindful of what is happening outside of my own isolation.

 

In January, we lost ninety-seven thousand three-hundred and eighty-three Americans.

97,384

That's near the total population of the city of Albany, NY in 2010.

Since the rise of the pandemic 458,121 Americans have died.

 

Dear gods and ancestors, we have passed 400,000 dead and are near to 500,000. Feel that weight. It’s been a long time. We’re coming up on a year.

 

Light a candle. Say a prayer. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Stay six feet apart. We can do this. May we all come out the other side.

 

 

[Statistics gathered from this W.H.O. website. They have changed as the numbers have come in, so there is some wiggle room around the exact number.]

*

A Contemplative Poem for the Month

This is the time to be slow,

Lie low to the wall

Until the bitter wind passes.

 

Try, as best you can, not to let

The wire brush of doubt

Scrape from your heart

All sense of yourself

And your hesitant light.

 

If you remain generous,

Time will come good;

And you will find your feet

Again on fresh pastures of promise,

Where the air will be kind

And blushed with beginning.

 

~John O’Donohue