Writing About the Dead During a Pandemic: 'They are Not a Statistic or Data Point'

Posted Monday, April 27, 2020 3:00 pm

Katie Pellico and Brian Stelter | CNN

A few weeks ago, The Chicago Tribune had four reporters and a single editor working on obituaries.

Now, with the Covid-19 death toll in Illinois approaching 2,000, 19 reporters are assigned to that task, and "we are preparing to add more people to the team," managing editor Chrissy Taylor says. "Our goal is to do as many as we can."

Obituary desks are expanding all across the United States as newspapers strain to capture the scope of the loss from the pandemic. The papers are honoring individual lives through short stories, features and special presentations. And in doing so, they are converting the death toll statistics of Covid-19 into deeply human stories.

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Writing About the Dead During a Pandemic: 'They are Not a Statistic or Data Point'

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