Sunisa Lee

Usually, Hmong funerals last several days and our whole family comes together for it. It's a Hmong tradition to fold thousands of little paper boats with silver or gold paper that represent money the person could take into the afterlife, but we couldn't do that because of the coronavirus.

I knew the coronavirus was a real thing, but it really hit home when my aunt died, and it was really hard to watch my mom go through that with her sister.