New York marks a year of pandemic sorrow, honors victims
With somber words and music set against a backdrop of images of New Yorkers taken by the coronavirus pandemic, the city on Sunday marked a year since they learned of the state’s first fatalities from COVID-19, a fearful moment of reckoning that sent officials rushing to close businesses and schools.
The elaborate evening ceremony on the Brooklyn waterfront paid tribute to the approximately 30,000 city residents killed by the coronavirus since March 2020. The event began with a performance by the New York Philharmonic and included remarks by faith leaders and poetry from the city’s youth poet laureate.
Throughout the ceremony, images of New Yorkers lost to the pandemic were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.