Alone, the hardest part

Of all the harrowing images of the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps none is more heart-wrenching than that of a patient dying alone, without loved ones at their side, amidst chaos and fear. Te pandemic has led to drastic changes in how we provide intensive and end-of-life care to patients and their families [1–3]. Age-old cultural and religious traditions surrounding death that comfort the dying and sustain the living, have also fallen victim to the pandemic. How can we exercise our duty to care while humanizing the dying experience under such extraordinary circumstances?