A Coronavirus Memorial has been installed around the Washington Monument in remembrance of all those lost to the pandemic.
On Tuesday, September 22, thousands of American flags were planted around the Washington Monument in commemoration of all the lives lost to the coronavirus pandemic.
The memorial was put together by a group of Washington DC residents who created a GoFundMe for the memorial installation. The organizers planned it to coincide with the U.S. reaching the tragic milestone of 200,000 deaths. “The Covid Memorial Project is a remembrance of all the lives lost to the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States as we cross the stunning threshold of 200,000 deaths,” says the group’s GoFundMe page.
The official death toll for coronavirus in the U.S. surpassed the 200,000 deaths mark also on Tuesday. According to the New York Times, an “accounting of all lives that were lost in the United States since mid-March shows that the pandemic and its resulting disruption have caused substantially more deaths: at least 250,000 more people have died than would in a normal year, according to an of estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
About two dozen volunteers began planting the flags on Monday morning, 1 for every 10 lives lost, as passersby joined in to help. Later on Tuesday at 9 am, the organizers held a brief memorial service for the victims led by interfaith leaders.
[Featured image: @yellski, Instagram]