In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Two years later, nearly a million people have died in the United States from the disease. To put a face on this number and pay respect to the departed, NPR asked our audience to share songs that reminded them of a loved one lost to COVID-19. What follows are individual stories of those who have passed, those mourning them and the songs that continue to unite them.
My mom loved "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. She would always request it when our family ate at Pizza Hut. It always reminds us of her.
She was a long-hauler — she died 16 months after being infected. Her lungs were too scarred, and she never could breathe on her own again. Despite that being her song, she left this world with her loved ones around her and with the assurance that she would be with her Lord and savior very soon, and the rest of us would join her one day. We miss her every day. —Carlita Lewis, daughter
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