President-elect Joe Biden will lead a memorial service to honor the lives lost to COVID -19 on inauguration eve.
The vigil will be held on January 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Lights will surround the pool for the first time to honor American lives lost.
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The ceremony will also include church bells ringing across Washington, D.C., and the Presidential Inauguration Committee has called on cities and towns across the country to join in as part of “a national moment of unity and remembrance.”
The lighting ceremony will be one of the few in-person events at Biden’s inauguration as most of the traditional activities have been scaled down or gone completely virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
PIC communications director Pili Tobar said in a statement, “it is important that we honor those who have died, reflect on what has been one of the more challenging periods in the nation’s history, and renew our commitment to coming together to end the pandemic and rebuild our nation.”
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Tobar said the inauguration of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Sen. Kamala Harris “represents the beginning of a new national journey.”
More than 340,000 Americans have died from COVID since the start of the pandemic, with December being the deadliest month so far. Experts believe January will be worst. They predict that the country’s death toll could top 400,000 by Inauguration Day on January 20.
