City Council to consider temporary waterfront memorial to honor COVID-19 victims

The Alexandria City Council on Tuesday will honor residents lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, 128 city residents have died from the virus. Council will also vote on a memorial at Rivergate City Park along the Potomac River in Old Town North. The memorial will be sponsored by the North Old Town Independent Citizens’ Association, the Old Town North Community Partnership and private donors.

Council will decide on the memorial at a legislative meeting on Tuesday, April 6.

“The memorial will be composed of small white flags, each representing an Alexandria resident who has died of COVID-19, that will be displayed from April 16 through June 21, 2021,” notes the Council resolution.

The memorial will be similar to the effort by Christ Church in Old Town. Small white flags were recently planted for the victims on the church grounds.

“(T)he COVID-19 pandemic has upended life as we know it, with its devastating effect on our physical and mental health, and on our social and economic wellbeing,” the city said in the resolution. “(I)n the City of Alexandria, we have lost approximately 128 beautiful souls to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The vast majority of deaths have been senior citizens, with 53 fatal victims in their 80s, 33 in their 70s, 20 in their 60s, 15 in their 50s, three in their 40s, three in their thirties and one resident in their 20s, according to the Virginia Department of Health.