On Tuesday evening, the nation paid tribute to over 400,000 lives lost to COVID-19.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris held a special memorial service yesterday to honor and remember the tragic loss of hundreds of thousands of lives throughout the course of the pandemic. The memorial began at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., where Biden and Harris spoke in remembrance of the victims.
The Reflecting Pool was lit, as cities and towns across the nation joined in by lighting up buildings and ringing church bells in a “national moment of unity and remembrance.”
In San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria lit up several buildings in Balboa park in amber light, including the California Tower, the San Diego Museum of Art and the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.
Tonight San Diego paid tribute to the over 400,000 of our fellow Americans who died from COVID-19 by illuminating @BalboaPark’s historic buildings. Thank you to our President-Elect @JoeBiden for bringing cities across the nation together for this remembrance. pic.twitter.com/2wdPu3vW4i
— Todd Gloria (@ToddGloria) January 20, 2021
The County Administration Center was also lit up in amber light, as well as the San Diego Convention Center.
Other buildings in the Balboa Park, like the San Diego Botanical Building, the Museum of Us, House of Hospitality, Mingei International Museum and Casa de Balboa were illuminated in red, white and blue.
Tonight, San Diego remembers and mourns the nearly 400,000 Americans who have died from #COVID19. This includes over 2,000 of our fellow San Diego County residents. Let us honor them by doing our part to slow the spread. pic.twitter.com/GBsU7mCqPZ
— San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria (@MayorToddGloria) January 20, 2021
“More than 2,000 San Diego County residents have lost their lives to the coronavirus,” said Mayor Gloria. “It’s important the city of San Diego stands with President-elect Biden and communities throughout the United States in this somber occasion and memorialize their deaths. This will serve as a declaration that we must continue to take steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 and not allow more preventable deaths.”
The memorial was live streamed online via the Inaugural Committee’s website at 5:30pm on Tuesday evening. In case you missed it, you can watch it here.
[Featured image: San Diego County]