Categorizing COVID-19 Victims

Question

Users are adding COVID-19 victims to WikiTree, which is fine. (Note: it's fine because it's not something that has been prohibited by WikiTree. I'd rather not see such profiles created unless it's for a notable person.) Perhaps before the profiles are orphaned, it would demonstrate more respect to the deceased person and their family to write a short bio and try to add family to their profile (if the person was old enough to have records available). 

This is a situation in constant flux and we do not want to create categories for this specific outbreak while it is ongoing. This falls under the purview of the Disasters Project, and the project has made it known that the work will focus on disasters that are over 75 years old (records will be more available, privacy respected, etc.) So, when and if this outbreak gets a category, it will be down the road. 

In the meantime, I suggest you use [[Category:Respiratory Failure]] or [[Category:Pneumonia]] or whatever is known from records or news reports that have a source attached in order to categorize an individual with the illness. 

This really should apply to any profile, at least in my view: Do your best to provide information and be respectful of the person and their family. 

(Edited to add the note)

Comments

I would just suggest that we don't create profiles for the sake of creating profiles, but do so respectfully and do our best to provide them with more than a mostly blank profile. If we're going to put them on at all, we should be attempting to give them a respectable biography, family members, and hopefully a connection to the global tree.

I understand that doing all this isn't necessarily playing to everyone's strengths and it sometimes presents a challenge that some researchers may not be prepared to take on, but I'd just throw that out as a request. The more we can show as people and proper profiles, and less as victims of this horrid disease, the better in my opinion.

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I agree, Scott.

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Yes.  They are not their disease, they are not their misfortune, they are not their death.  They are human beings with lives and loves and dreams and hopes, and they deserve to have biographies.

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I agree with Scott. This is a genealogy website. Logging the recent deaths of non-notable people who aren't our relatives (nor even our personal friends or acquaintances) is not a genealogical activity -- and, frankly, it seems a bit creepy.

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Hi Scott,

I agree with you fully. I believe it is important to recognize those who have gone before us, notable or not, this should not be a quest to list persons who died during this pandemic just for listing sake. All should be honored, at least with a biography. Living, dying or dead, we are not the disease. This gives the disease power. What we have done in our lives, even the most simple acts of kindness, is the true power.

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[[Category:Pneumonia]] is not appropriate in my opinion. That is a completely different disease state.

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Well, you'd need to see a death cert. Many of the 1918 flu deaths were attributed to pneumonia. (I've seen the images)

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I’ll echo Scott’s comment. Not to mention the likelihood of significant revision to the categorization of these deaths when there is currently major disparity between states and even jurisdictions within states on attribution of Covid as cause.

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Last week it was 13 million it would be nice to have a memorial wall page or some effort we all can't unfeel these tragedies. Disaster definitely not it nor those subcategory illness in the pandemic. I often find myself looking back on Cocoliztli.

Answer 1

We have enough to do with finding LNAB for unknowns. finding correct dates and locations for profiles who do not have dates or locations and finding sources for Unsourced profiles.  We don't need to create another project for this.  IMHO let the families make profiles for their loved ones who passed from Covid-19 if they are so inclined rather than us making them for complete strangers so close to their deaths.  Let the families grieve and bury their dead.

Comments

- Yes , let the families create , modify , and therefore OWN , their Profiles , in their own time - - we are not fb or twitter.

Answer 2

Since victims of mining disasters and disasters that occurred have been limited to 75 years ago in respect to the families, etc., how can we now create profiles for deaths less than a week or month old?  We are still only a few months into this current disaster which hasn't yet ended.

Seems to be a double standard and not very respectful to those still mourning recent deaths.  Are the families even on WT?

What about privacy issues?  Seems to be a gross violation to create profiles of victims not in family.

Comments

Just to clarify, I found several such abandoned, empty profiles of recent victims of COVID-19, and they were all for notables (not household names, but people who had Wikipedia pages).Like this one. Others have been updated since and look a bit better. I assume the question here is referring to profiles of this kind, rather than profiles of private people. I agree, the creation of such profiles should not be encouraged, but there is no rule in WikiTree forbidding there either. I guess that is all the meaning of "this is fine".

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Right, that is what I meant by "this is fine." There is nothing prohibiting it. I certainly do not encourage it, nor did I encourage the creation of profiles of recent victims of murder, California fires, etc. People create them anyway. I just wish they would put a bit of time into them before orphaning.

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We have this recently created guideline which discourages our creating profiles for recently deceased strangers:

Help:Recently_Deceased_Strangers .

Answer 3

Sadly, musician Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the Marsalis family died yesterday of complications of Covid-19. He is a notable.

For what it's worth, relevant to mentioning cause of death in profiles, particularly for Covid-19, some broadcast stations are now providing recognition at the close of their shows to persons, notable or not, who died during this pandemic to 2 or 3 individuals each day. Today, one of them was Ellis Marsalis and another was the first ER doctor to die of complications of Covid-19. He was a 2 times cancer survivor, 60 years old. These very brief 'profiles' of recognition were very tastefully done and a reminder to all of us that we are all connected. There were no privacy issues. Actually cause of death can be obtained from a state death record office.

I'm not saying we should list cause of death, if known to be Covid-19, but if their are Wikitreers who wish to do this it should be done in a sensitive manner.

Also, there are some comments about cause of death listed as 'Pneumonia' during the 1918 flu epidemic. Generally, a cause of death is listed as a 'complication' of a disease. So, a major cause of death during the 1918 flu would be 'Pneumonia'; however, there might also be causes that are written, "pneumonia" and given the year (1918) an 'assumption' due to Spanish flu. Some death certificates might list 'pneumonia secondary to flu' or some such wording.

I would not expect all the current death certificates to list cause of death as Covid19. It would likely be something like 'respiratory failure' with the possible addition of resulting from Covid-19.

Interestingly, I have had family members whose loved ones died of complications of Alzheimer's tell me that when they obtained death records for their loved ones, a common cause of death was listed as 'malnutrition!' That is the 'formal' cause of death and it resulted from Alzheimer's.

I understand that what I am writing might appear moribund; however, when we do well-sourced biographies, do we not include death records? If possible, we list month, day, year, location and where buried. Some death records, usually starting in the 1800s list cause of death. For some genealogists, they include this information to track health issues in family lines, historic 'outbreaks' such as measles and chicken pox in regions, and use in genetic genealogy.

Case in point, I was tracing an early ancestor yesterday, who was a founder of Windsor, Connecticut. I knew he died in May 1661 in Simsbury. I was surprised to learn going through various references that he and some of his family had migrated from Windsor to Simsbury around 1659 and in May 1661 there was a massive Indian raid in the Simsbury settlement and most of the settlers were killed, including this ancestor and his two twin infant grandsons. So, now I will be adding this information to the ancestor's biography as well as family members.

Comments

I checked out Covid 19 as a tag to see what was going on. I created a profile today, and have piled in a fair amount of his lineage. This person I've known many years, outstanding character and I think he deserves to be honored and memorialized. I also think he would love this, copy link is not working, here's a link to the profile: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Monahan-736

Here's copy link:

Monahan-736

 

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I see this often in old death certificates. The cause of death is listed as "Senility" and the complication being a fall or pneumonia.

Answer 4

Good Point Natalie, very good point!

Answer 5

IMHO, Whilst, I don't disagree with members adding relatives lost in this latest world tragedy, categorised or not, I do agree with not adding, miserably deficient profiles, notables or not, and then orphaning these same profiles, and mercilessly leaving them to be given a fitting biography by the few WikiTree members who donate their time and energy, unfalteringly, to build up the health of our collaborative and united tree. And, I certainly agree with the general view, and most definitely, Cheryl Moore's view, that maybe it is, most certainly, a gross invasion of privacy, if they aren't related in some way. Is there some way to sent a blanket message  to all members, to say that, unless they are related, please do not create these memorials without permission, and if they are related, please be sure to leave them with a fitting, respectful memorial ?

Comments

I completely agree with you David. If we can't be invested enough in the profile to research and write a complete life's history, let's not just create a profile based on their cause of death. That, IMHO, is disrespectful to both the deceased and their family.