Few eligible families have sought federal payment of COVID funeral expenses

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/09/ [login to see] /fema-covid-funerals
On a humid August afternoon in 2020, two caskets – one silver, one white – sat by holes in the ground at a small, graveside service in the town of Travelers Rest, S.C.

The family had just lost a mom and dad, both to COVID.

"They died five days apart," says Allison Leaver, who now lives in Maryland with her husband and kids.

When Leaver's parents died that summer, it was a crushing tragedy. And there was no life insurance or burial policy to help with the expense.

"We just figured we were just going to have to put that on our credit cards and pay it off, and that's how we were going to deal with that," the public school teacher says with a laugh of resignation.