Countries Find Ways to Honor Lost Lives as Pandemic Death Tolls Rise
Since the COVID-19 pandemic was announced last March, the U.S. has taken the spot for leading deaths. In March of 2021, 400,000 people died in the U.S. due to the virus and the number continues to rise. Countries across the world have faced similar casualties and found several ways to honor those that have lost their life due to this pandemic.
In the U.S., many states have held different commemorations to honor those that have died from their state. For example, artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg personalized small white flags with names/messages and placed them in the Washington Armory. Firstenberg told PBS that this would help represent a large number of deaths and emphasize each individual person who lost their life due to COVID-19.
Other flag memorials include the American flags the COVID Memorial Project planted on the National Mall and the orange, pink, red, and white flags that another artist Shane Reilly planted on his yard in Austin, Texas to commemorate all the Texans who died due to the pandemic.
Washington state also took a musical approach by asking the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to perform Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” as a musical tribute to the lives lost during the pandemic. States like Detroit declared August 31st as “Detroit Memorial Day” and created a “drive-around” that allowed relatives of COVID-19 victims to place their pictures at Belle Isle State Park in Detroit.
In other countries, such as England, cities like London are honoring COVID-19 losses by creating a memorial blossom garden in the capital’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This garden is made up of renewed materials and 33 newly planned blossoming trees and provides an opportunity to reflect on the pandemic’s effects.
Architecture firm Gomez Platero also announced their plan to build what they named the “World Memorial to the Pandemic” memorial structure in Uruguay, located at the edge of an waterfront as another place for reflection.
On the other hand, specific cemeteries such as Campo 87 Cimiterio Maggiore di Milano in Milan have been dedicated to COVID-19 victims. Websites and specific twitter, instagram, and facebook pages have been created to create a digital collection of the lives lost during the pandemic.
Some events that have even been created outside the US include the Wail of Grief on April 4th in China during which sirens were blasted while everyone was asked to keep a moment of silence. Others in Germany have even started lighting red candles to commemorate those who have died due to the COVID-19 virus.