(CNN) – Twenty thousand U. S. flags were placed on the National Mall as part of a memorial to the more than 200,000 people across the country who died of coronavirus.
The facility, called the Covid Memorial Project, was organized through an organization of friends from the Washington DC domain who raised the budget online and then amassed volunteers to place the flags at the mall on Tuesday.
Each of the 20,000 flags represents 10 American lives that were lost to the virus this year, on the group’s GoFundMe page.
“This excessive loss of life is staggering, but not inevitable: the president’s mismanagement of the reaction to the virus has led to tens of thousands more deaths,” organizers wrote at the fundraising site.
“And this management has done nothing to commemorate this impressive number of lives lost, choosing to minimize, minimize and forget whenever possible. No low flag, no concerted service, no declared day of mourning, so the COVID Memorial Project is fair looking to say: those lives are more than a statistic: they were family, friends, neighbors.
The devastating death toll precedes what experts warn can be a confusing flu season. Over the next 3 months, another 150,000 people may be lost to Covid-19, according to a projection from the Institute for Health Measurement and Assessment (IHME) at the University of Washington.
“This may have been avoided,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday in a speech at the monument. “Not everything, but a giant part. “
During the event, the California representative also advocated for Democrats before the November election.
“It’s time we weighed the virus, from the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “It’s time for us to vote for health, forget about the wishes of the American people. “
Senator Amy Klobuchar echoed Pelosi in a tweet sharing a portion of the screen.
“This is a reminder of why we want new leadership in the White House,” he wrote.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren took the time to march in front of the flags on Tuesday, sharing a photo with her Twitter followers.
“My mind is with the families of the more than 200,000 people we’ve lost,” he wrote. “May your memories be a blessing. “
The flags remained in position until Wednesday night, according to the organizers of the monument.
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