Pictures of the Year: A Picture and its Story
Alisha Narvaez, 36, the manager, and Nicole Warring, 33, a Resident Funeral Director at International Funeral & Cremation Services, a funeral home in Harlem, carry a deceased person into the basement area, where bodies are stored and prepared for funeral services, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., April 2, 2020. Reuters photographer Andrew Kelly: "In April 2020, the coronavirus was ravaging the Big Apple. With nearly all stores closed and streets empty of traffic and people, it felt as if the entire landscape of the city had changed. A lot of the public focus was on the frontline hospital workers, who were struggling to keep up with the high numbers of COVID-19 cases. I got to thinking about where the dead were taken after the hospitals and decided to go to the nearest funeral home I could find. As I entered, I met Alisha and Nicole in the office. Initially, I was a little surprised. They did not look like what I imagined funeral directors would. Young, cool and stylishly-dressed, they greeted me warmly. They told me they were inundated with the deceased and had a basement full of as well as a full schedule of funerals. They were sometimes working 17-hour days to meet the increased demand. As they carried the body into the basement, I was not prepared for what I saw. Bodies took up almost every available space. Some shared gurneys, some were in body bags on the floor, and many were stacked to the ceiling in cremation boxes along a side wall. Before this, I had barely seen a dead person. Now, I had close to fifty before me in this small room. Even through my mask, the smell was overwhelming. This is when the enormity of the coronavirus pandemic hit me. When I arrived home a few hours after initially meeting Alisha and Nicole, my wife immediately asked me if I was ok. My face was still as white as a sheet." REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File photo SEARCH "POY STORIES 2020" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" F
