Design updated for the Covid memorial
The Fairfax County Arts Committee Project Team earlier this month submitted an updated design proposal for a Covid memorial at the Fairfax County Government Center.
The Board of Supervisors had passed a resolution on Feb. 8, 2022, calling for the creation of a memorial recognizing the impact of the Covid pandemic and providing an area of respite, reflection, and remembrance.
The “Circles of Memory” memorial would be located at the front of the Herrity Building and the Fairfax County Public Safety Headquarters Building.
Related story: Artists selected for the Covid memorial
An initial proposal for the design was scrapped after “the artist and project team determined that the site infrastructure constraints were too cost prohibitive,” the project team reports.
In May, the objective of the memorial was expanded “to include a more generalized purpose of providing mental health respite and recognition of the toll of all life-threatening events in Fairfax County.”
The new design will contain shading panels attached to concrete benches to promote conversation, interaction, and intimacy relevant to quiet reflection, the project team states. “The whole of the aesthetic impact will be one of artistic beauty in a natural setting.”
As of May 2023, the Fairfax County Health District reported 1, 793 Covid deaths and 4,400 hospitalizations.
