Meet the man who is memorializing the lives of COVID victims nearly every day online: "The history is unfolding"
Alex Goldstein knows a little bit about the thousands of people's lives he has been memorializing online nearly every day.
Goldstein started "Faces of COVID," the Twitter account created as a way to personalize the pandemic's toll. Since its start in 2020, he has featured more than 7,000 faces.
"I try to wake up each morning, look at the submissions that have come in from family members, do a bit of my own research. I've done it almost every single day since March 28, 2020," Goldstein told "CBS Mornings" lead national correspondent David Begnaud. "It has become more of a required ritual in my life than I think I could have ever anticipated."
The 38-year-old, who spent his late 20s as press secretary for former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, sees the "Faces of COVID" account as a first draft of history.
"The history is unfolding right now as we speak," Goldstein said. "I feel a responsibility to make sure that these people are treated with dignity and respect."
Karen Nascembeni's husband Steven died of COVID and was featured on "Faces of COVID." She said the account has helped bring a human element to a disease that has been often politicized.
"No one else has put a face to these victims the way you have. Otherwise, they're just a number," she said.
Nascembeni recently met Goldstein in person for the first time.
"You've brought humanity to this God-awful pandemic," she told him.
Goldstein said he hopes the account will help unite people together and show the world the importance of empathy.
"What I hope the impact of 'Faces of COVID' has been to restore some semblance of empathy into how we see each other. Anyone can come here and say goodbye and watch a bunch of strangers participate in that with them. I think there's meaning in that, I hope there's meaning in that," he said.