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'Death Cafes' Help Ease Grief, Loss in Time of Coronavirus

Associated Press

   NEW YORK - Panic attacks, trouble breathing, relapses that have sent
   her to bed for 14 hours at a time: At 35, Marissa Oliver has been
   forced to deal with the specter of death on COVID-19's terms, yet
   conversations about her illness, fear and anxiety haven't been easy.

   That's why she headed onto Zoom to attend a Death Cafe, a gathering of
   strangers willing to explore mortality and its impact on the living,
   preferably while sipping tea and eating cake.

   "In the Death Cafe, no one winces," said Oliver, who was diagnosed with
   the virus in March. "Now, I'm writing down everything in my life that I
   want to achieve."

   Death Cafes, part of a broader "death-positive" movement to encourage
   more open discussion about grief, trauma and loss, are held around the
   world, in nearly 100 countries. While many haven't migrated online in
   the pandemic, others have.

   The global virus toll and the social isolation it has extracted have
   opened old, unresolved wounds for some. Others attending virtual Death
   Cafes are coping with fresh losses from COVID-19, cancer and other
   illnesses. Still more bring metaphorical death to the circles: the end
   of friendships, shattered romances or chronic illness, as Oliver has
   endured.

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