COVID-19 Remembrance Day honors more than 23,000 Virginians who died

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -More than a dozen community leaders came out to Virginia Union University for COVID-19 Remembrance Day.

This is the second year for the event, held on March 14, to mark the day the commonwealth recorded its first COVID-19-related death in 2020. The first death was a man in his 70s from James City County.

That loss would be the first of many.

Ivy Carter shared her story about how she was impacted by the virus. She lost two family members in the first weeks of the lockdown, her mother-in-law Nannie Carter and her aunt Jane Lee.

The memory is still raw nearly three years later.

“Very, very traumatic. I mean every individual in the family. It affected them mentally, you know to lose at so soon of a disease that we had no answers to, didn’t know which way to turn,” Carter said.

Even though COVID continues to claim the lives of Virginians, the state department of health says that significant progress has been made in getting the virus under control through vaccinations and more access to testing. VDH says it has seen a 78% decrease in cases reported per week.

As they move forward, they’re still pushing people to stay vigilant against the virus by testing when needed and getting vaccinated.

”We continue to recommend that people stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. The COVID-19 vaccine significantly lowers the risk of getting very sick, or hospitalized, or dying,” said Elena Diskin from the Virginia Department of Health.

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