Pittsburgh to participate in national remembrance of covid victims Tuesday evening
Pittsburgh will participate in this evening’s national Memorial to Lives Lost to covid-19.
The City-County Building Downtown will be illuminated in amber for the memorial at 5:30 p.m. Other government and private buildings are expected to be included.
In Washington, President-elect Joe Biden and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris plan to take part in a ceremony at the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial to honor the nearly 400,000 Americans killed in the coronavirus pandemic.
Tonight, the City will participate in the national memorial to 400,000 American lives lost to COVID by illuminating the City-County Building. This is part of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harrishttps://t.co/djzY5JIRMm
— Daniel Gilman (@danielgilman) January 19, 2021
About 200,000 small U.S., state and territorial flags were installed Monday on the National Mall, a display intended to honor those who have died from the disease.
Church bells will also be rung at 5:30 p.m. for the national moment of unity and remembrance.
“While tomorrow’s inauguration marks an opportunity for healing across our country, it is important to remember how far we have to go in our fight against the covid-19 pandemic, and how we owe it to all those who lost their lives to work together to defeat it,” Mayor Bill Peduto said in a statement.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the incoming director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday she expects the death toll to reach 500,000 by mid-February.
In Allegheny County, 1,225 residents have died of covid, though no new deaths were reported Tuesday by the county’s health department. The Westmoreland County death toll was 535 as of Monday. Pennsylvania’s covid death toll is 19,390.
This is the COVID-19 Daily Update from the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) for January 19, 2021.
In the last 24 hours, 434 new cases were reported to the Health Department. Of these, 254 are confirmed cases from 1,205 new PCR tests. There are 180 probable cases. pic.twitter.com/bmvQEZRC5W
— Allegheny County Health Department (@HealthAllegheny) January 19, 2021
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
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