New York pays tribute to its 30,000 dead from Covid-19

New York, which is the city in the United States most bereaved by the coronavirus, paid a moving tribute to his 30,258 deaths from the disease, one year after the start of the pandemic. “We have lost more New Yorkers that in WWII, the Vietnam War, Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 combined. Every family has been affected, and for so many families there is pain, raw pain“, said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

He also asked to observe a minute of silence in tribute to the victims during a live virtual ceremony, mentioning in passing the “health heroes” who “saved lives”, sometimes at their expense, and also asked to remember the good times.

“Whatever happens, no one can take the dances you have already danced from you!” Bill de Blasio said in Spanish, quoting a quote from the Colombian writer and Nobel Prize winner for literature Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in an city where a third of immigrants are of Latin origin.

Photos projected on the Brooklyn Bridge

The virtual ceremony began with a short New York Philharmonic recital, in front of candles lit on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge on a freezing, windy night. Large black and white photos of the victims were projected onto the bridge. There were speeches by religious leaders, a young poet, witnesses, as well as the participation of Hezekiah Walker, pastor of the great Brooklyn church and popular gospel artist, accompanied by the choir The Love Fellowship.