(The Atlantic) – The tragedy of people suffering and dying alone is one of the enduring and unaddressed traumas of the pandemic. During early surges, we restricted visits to stop COVID from spreading. Yet even when the number of infections dropped and rates of transmission slowed, many of these strict policies remained in place, despite the immense damage they did to patients, families, and hospital staff.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States died from the disease in those first few years, and many of them died isolated from their friends and family. Intubated and unconscious, they may not have known they were alone, but their family members did, and many developed PTSD. Around the world, ICU staff, too, became distraught and demoralized by caring for an onslaught of people dying in isolation. (Read More)