Death managers, public health, and COVID-19: An exploratory study

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated cracks in the United States' healthcare systems-along with its deathcare systems. The pandemic as an ongoing mass fatality incident highlights the need to understand the public servants engaged in deathcare work, as they are a vital part of the emergency response equation. This exploratory, descriptive study focuses on the ways in which medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) in the United States provide core emergency management services to communities, relying on findings from interviews with 18 ME/Cs throughout the country. Findings indicate how COVID-19 cases are counted is difficult, the pandemic changed how ME/Cs operate in response, and burnout is eminent for these public servants.