COVID Remembrance Ceremony will recognize the lives lost

Chris Duncan, whose mother died of COVID contracted at the Annandale Healthcare Center, attends an event at the Washington monument last fall commemorating the lives lost to the COVID pandemic.

The Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) is hosting a COVID-19 Remembrance Ceremony on Wednesday, June 9, at 6 p.m., on the Fairfax County Government Center ellipse. 

The ceremony will remember and honor all of the lives lost in the 13 jurisdictions that make up the regional commission. 

The public is encouraged to watch the ceremony online. It will be broadcast live on Fairfax County government Channel 16 as well as on the Facebook pages of the NVRC and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay. 

“We Northern Virginians have worked collaboratively together to stem the tide of the coronavirus pandemic, but our losses are considerable,” notes NVRC Chair P. David Tarter. “We come together to mourn and remember more than 2,350 of our friends, relatives, and neighbors lost to this terrible disease.” In Fairfax County alone, there were 1,130 COVID deaths.

The event will host leaders from throughout the region as Tarter and McKay address the impact the pandemic has had on Northern Virginia. Additionally, to represent those who serve on the front lines, Fairfax Health District Director Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Chief John Butler, and Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis will speak. 

The ceremony will culminate with a “last alarm” bell service.

NVRC’s members include the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William; the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park; and the towns of Dumfries, Herndon, Leesburg, and Vienna.