AP

COVID toll hits 800,000 to close out year filled with death

Dec 13, 2021, 4:18 PM | Updated: Dec 14, 2021, 4:06 pm

Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prepares to enter a COVID-19 patient's r...

Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prepares to enter a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)


              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prepares to enter a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prays in a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Carolyn Burnett hugs a box holding her son Chris Burnett's ashes Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett arranges items she selected to commemorate her son Chris Burnett Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett pauses before a photo of her son Chris Burnett Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prays in a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prepares to enter a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, holds the hand of a COVID-19 patient as he prays in a hospital room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prays in a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Carolyn Burnett wipes away tears as she sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​ (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​ (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett holds a football presented as an award to her son by the Kansas City Chiefs, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​For its Christmas card photo, the Burnett family ultimately opted to hold up a football presented as a memorial by the Kansas City Chiefs to represent Chris. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prepares to enter a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prays in a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Carolyn Burnett hugs a box holding her son Chris Burnett's ashes Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett arranges items she selected to commemorate her son Chris Burnett Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett pauses before a photo of her son Chris Burnett Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prays in a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prepares to enter a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, holds the hand of a COVID-19 patient as he prays in a hospital room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Steve Grove, a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center, prays in a COVID-19 patient's room, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Minneapolis. He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it "didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.” (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
            
              Carolyn Burnett wipes away tears as she sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​ (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​ (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett holds a football presented as an award to her son by the Kansas City Chiefs, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. ​For its Christmas card photo, the Burnett family ultimately opted to hold up a football presented as a memorial by the Kansas City Chiefs to represent Chris. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
            
              Carolyn Burnett sorts through mementos to select items to commemorate her son Chris Burnett on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in Olathe, Kan. Chris Burnett, an unvaccinated 34-year-old father who coached football at Olathe East High School, died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Carolyn Burnett is bracing for her first Christmas without her son Chris, a beloved high school football coach whose outdoor memorial service drew a crowd of hundreds.

The unvaccinated 34-year-old father of four died in September as a result of COVID-19 after nearly two weeks on a ventilator, and his loss has left a gaping hole for his mother, widow and family as the holidays approach.

How, she thought, could they take a holiday photo without Chris? What would Christmas Day football be like without him offering up commentary? How could they play trivia games on Christmas Eve without him beating everyone with his movie expertise?

The U.S. on Tuesday hit another depressing pandemic milestone — 800,000 deaths. It’s a sad coda to a year that held so much promise with the arrival of vaccines but is ending in heartbreak for the many grieving families trying to navigate the holiday season.

For its Christmas card photo, the Burnett family ultimately opted to hold up a football presented as a memorial by the Kansas City Chiefs to represent Chris. Carolyn Burnett also set up a special shelf for the holidays, filling it with a drawing of her son, his bronzed baby shoe, a candle, a poem and an ornament of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

But nothing feels quite right this year.

“These emotions come and go so quickly,” she said. “You see something. You hear something. His favorite food. You hear the song. There’s just all these little things. And then, bam.”

The year began with the COVID-19 death toll at about 350,000 in the U.S., at a time when the country was in the throes of a winter surge so bad that patients were lined up in emergency room hallways waiting for beds.

But vaccines were just getting rolled out, and sports stadiums and fairgrounds were quickly transformed into mass vaccination sites. Case numbers began falling. By spring, nearly all schools had reopened and communities were shedding mask orders. TV newscasters began talking cheerfully about a post-pandemic world. President Joe Biden proclaimed the Fourth of July holiday as a celebration of the nation’s freedom from the virus.

It didn’t last long. The delta variant struck just as vaccination rates were stalling amid a wave of misinformation, devastating poorly immunized portions of the Midwest and South. Hospitals brought back mobile morgues and opened up their pocket books in a desperate bid to attract enough nurses to care for the sick.

“People have no idea,” said Debbie Eaves, a lab worker, who grew weary of the wave of death as she collected swabs from patients at Oakdale Community Hospital in Louisiana amid the surge. “Oh, no. They have no idea what it is to look and see, to see it.”

In Kansas, Carolyn Burnett begged her son, who went by the nickname Coach Cheese because of his love of cheeseburgers, to get vaccinated.

“He was a part of the group that … just didn’t trust it,” she said, pausing and sighing. “They didn’t want to be a guinea pig. They didn’t want to be experimented on.”

She thought maybe he was softening. When his dad got his first COVID-19 shot in August, Chris, a diabetic, told his mother he would discuss it with his doctor. But then one of Chris’ children got infected at a family sleepover and soon everyone was sick.

She texted him, “Honey, God’s got you.” His last text to her said: “Mama, I feel him.” He died Sept. 11.

School administrators tweeted heartfelt condolences, praising his passion in coaching running backs at Olathe East High School. Tearful athletes paid tribute in TV interviews. The Kansas City Glory, an all-female football team that Burnett coached, asked fans to contribute to a GoFundMe fundraiser to help his children. And he was honored with an inspiration award at a ceremony that recognizes the region’s best high school athletes.

“We had so much support that you would think he was a celebrity,” his mom recalled.

Now, as the year ends, the delta variant is fueling another wave of hospitalizations, court battles are brewing over vaccine mandates and fresh questions are swirling about the new omicron variant.

Steve Grove has seen his share of coronavirus deaths in his role as a chaplain at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Recently, one dying patient’s family gathered in a conference room. One by one they were taken to the patient’s bedside, while the other relatives watched on Zoom.

“It’s a huge pain in the butt and the connection drops and it’s weird,” he acknowledged. “Here’s what I’m going to say to COVID: ‘Up yours.’ I’m getting a Zoom call going, and there you have it. That’s what’s happening today at least. You’re going to do what you’re going to do and you’re going to kill this person. You get to do that COVID. But what we’re going to do today is this. And I’m going to give them a hug when it’s done.

“The alternative,” he said, “is that you just, you just give up, and I guess most people in this building have too much faith in humanity.”

He acknowledged that he sometimes gets mad at unvaccinated patients because it “didn’t have to be this way. And now there’s a mess that perhaps was avoidable.”

“I’ll confess to it,” he said. “And I know I’m not proud of it, and I swallow it down and then I remember as a human being that my compassion reminds me that it’s still somebody’s loved one. It is still death and it still stings.”

Dr. LaTasha Perkins, of Georgetown University Student Health, is getting ready to take a job in January in a clinic that helps underserved residents of the community. She is Black and said she felt compelled to make the change after watching the virus devastate her family.

She has lost a great uncle, an aunt and a cousin to COVID-19, and she suspects the virus may have played a role in the death of her grandfather. When it struck her own household last December after she had gotten her first shot but the rest of her family wasn’t yet eligible, she spent sleepless nights watching her toddler breathe and took her husband to the hospital, although he wasn’t admitted. She never got sick and credits the vaccine. Her husband also later got the shot.

Still, maddeningly to her, only three of her six siblings are vaccinated. Some of the hesitation, she said, is rooted in the “horrible things done in the name of medicine to Black and brown bodies in this country.” She tells them: “If you’re worried about rich white people not caring about you, they’re lining up getting the vaccine.”

She has been unable, though, to get through to some of her relatives. It’s part of the reason why she started doing hesitancy talks specifically for African Americans in the D.C. area.

“For my own selfish reason, I don’t want to go to any more funerals,” she said, “and I don’t want COVID to come back in my house.”

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Associated Press

Ex-Packer Guion gets 1 year for domestic violence assault

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest in a domestic violence assault at his home last fall. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh also ordered Guion on Tuesday to serve three years’ probation and complete a domestic […]

1 year ago

Joe Jarzynka...

Associated Press

Durant eager for Suns debut vs. Hornets after knee injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career — but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star. The 34-year-old Durant doesn’t seem all that worried. Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against […]

1 year ago

FILE - Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores stands on the sideline during the second half of an N...

Associated Press

Judge: NFL coach can press discrimination claims in court

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Coach Brian Flores can pursue some of his discrimination claims against the league and its teams in court rather than through arbitration, a judge ruled Wednesday. The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan was issued months after lawyers for the league tried to get the lawsuit moved to […]

1 year ago

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock cools off in the first period during an NHL hockey game ...

Associated Press

Kane trade reinforces hard reality of Blackhawks rebuild

CHICAGO (AP) — After days of speculation, the harsh reality of the Chicago Blackhawks’ situation was reinforced by one move in a flurry of transactions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Showtime is over, at least in Chicago, and a seemingly bright future is, well, way off in the distance. The reverberations of Chicago’s decision […]

1 year ago

FILE -  Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, wearing a protective face mas...

Associated Press

Disgraced ex-Haitian soccer president announces he’s back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s former soccer federation president whose lifetime ban from sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month announced Wednesday that he is reclaiming his position. Yves Jean-Bart’s defiant announcement could lead to a standoff with FIFA, which already has appointed an emergency management committee to lead the Haitian Football Association […]

1 year ago

FILE - Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the ...

Associated Press

Rodgers says decision on future will come ‘soon enough’

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers says he will make a decision on his future “soon enough” as the four-time MVP quarterback ponders whether to play next season and if his future remains with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 39, discussed his future while speaking on an episode of the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that […]

1 year ago

COVID toll hits 800,000 to close out year filled with death