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A 24-Hour Virtual Vigil Will Mourn Americans Who Have Died Of Coronavirus
By
Sydney Pereira
Published May 19, 2020
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ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
By
Sydney Pereira
Published May 19, 2020
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Tens of thousands of people who have died in the U.S. from COVID-19 will be memorialized during a 24-hour virtual vigil on Wednesday.
The event, Naming The Lost: A 24 Hour COVID Vigil, is not sponsored by a single organization, but brings together faith leaders and people who have lost family and friends to the virus from across the country for collective grieving beginning at 2 p.m.
"Every day we see numbers, but we're not putting, actually, the names and faces to this tragedy. We thought about what is a way to honor those who have lost, especially for those who have not been able to grieve," said Nelini Stamp, an organizer of Naming The Lost and director of strategy and partnership for the Working Families Party, an organization supporting the vigil. "We intend to name as many people as possible in a 24-hour period."
During stay-at-home policies across the country, "There is no grieving process," said Stamp. She'll be among dozens who will read names of those who've died, including her family friend and a family member.
"If you are lucky, you can get maybe one last word, but you can't collectively grieve. I come from a Catholic tradition, where it's a wake, and we can't have that," Stamp said.
The event's website, #NamingTheLost, says, "The lack of collective mourning during the COVID-19 crisis has left many feeling even more isolated and alone—and created a gap in the public conversation about what is at stake and who is suffering at this time."
The virtual vigil aims to create a space for that.
Some 500 people so far have signed up to join the vigil, which will be live streamed, according to Nashville-based Reverend Jennifer Bailey, an organizer of the vigil and founder of Faith Matters Network.
"There's been a real dearth of public spaces for lament, grief, and worrying," Bailey said. "As we approach 90,000 people who've died in the United Staes alone, that number can seem so overwhelming to folks, and we forget that as we rattle off these statistics, that behind each number—whether it be 5 or 50,000—is a person and a life."
As of Tuesday morning, more than 90,200 people in the U.S. have died of COVID-19.
"It's a disease that seeks to steal our breath in this moment," Bailey said. "This felt like the first time in a publicly-facing way that I could truly exhale by giving voice and memory to those who have been lost."
"People can't really process big numbers like that when we're thinking about the human toll," Stamp added. "Reading names is important to actually put the name to the number."
You can register to submit the names of the dead and receive a link to join the virtual vigil here.
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Sydney Pereira
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