Four years in, covid flags no longer fly. Families' grief remains.
A sea of white flags on the National Mall serves as a touching tribute to Covid victims with personal stories of grief and loss.
- Bilawal Riaz
- 1 min read
A monument on the National Mall, featuring a sea of white flags representing Covid victims, serves as a poignant reminder of lost lives. Messages dedicated on the flags highlight personal stories of grief and loss. Survivors express the ongoing need to remember as the nation grapples with the magnitude of the pandemic’s toll, with nearly 1.2 million Americans lost. Volunteers, like Margie Eyman Perez and Debbie Darling Norris, find solace in contributing to the memorial and sharing in collective mourning. Individuals, including Nicholas Montemarano and Ed Koenig, reflect on the profound impact of losing loved ones to Covid and find comfort in visiting the monument. Anthropology professor Sarah E. Wagner, involved in archiving the flags, stresses the complex emotions surrounding grief and the struggle to mourn amidst the pandemic’s disruptions to death customs and memorialization.