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.

中文翻译：

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死亡管理者、公共卫生和 COVID-19：一项探索性研究

持续的 COVID-19 大流行加剧了美国医疗保健系统以及殡葬系统的裂缝。作为持续发生的大规模死亡事件，这场大流行凸显了了解从事殡葬工作的公务员的必要性，因为他们是应急反应方程式的重要组成部分。这项探索性、描述性研究的重点是美国法医和验尸官 (ME/C) 向社区提供核心应急管理服务的方式，该研究基于对全国 18 名 ME/C 的采访结果。调查结果表明，如何统计 COVID-19 病例很困难，大流行改变了 ME/C 的应对方式，而且这些公务员的倦怠现象很严重。