AOC and Chuck Schumer Say New Yorkers Will Get $7k For Covid Funeral Costs

New Yorkers will receive $7k to pay for the funerals of family members who have died from Covid-19.

Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Monday that families can be reimbursed for funeral costs up to $7k.

“Nothing breaks your heart more than seeing parents and grandparents on Zoom saying goodbye to their children and grandchildren,” Schumer said at Monday’s press conference. “They’re in the hospital dying of COVID. They can’t hug each other. They can’t be near each other. They can’t kiss each other. It’s awful. It brings tears to my eyes when I see some of these pictures. But compounding the injury, once the loved one passes away, many of these families, because of COVID, don’t have money for a proper funeral and a proper burial. And that is just awful and inhumane.”

Schumer and AOC said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be getting $2 billion for funeral assistance, and $200 million will be going to New Yorkers.

New York has the highest Covid deaths, with more than 44,000.

AOC said, “I lost my dad when I was about 18 years old, and the funeral expenses haunted and followed my family, along with many other families in a similar position, for years.”

“When you suddenly lose a loved one, you’re talking about an expense of four, five, seven, ten thousand dollars. And then during COVID with overrun funeral facilities, etc., families also are having to deal with having to pay for the storage of the bodies of their loved ones. This is wrong.”