"My sincere condolences"

Inside the heartaches of a COVID funeral assistance program. Going into 2022, FEMA has paid out over $1.5 billion to families who lost loved ones due to COVID-19. Now, with cases rising once again and a backlog of desperate applicants, it all comes down to the call handlers. Hannah Dreier meets with Irene Hild, one of the call handlers working at FEMA's COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Centre, to bring you an intimate look at the workings of the program and the struggles of navigating the hurt and grief coming through with each call.