Fairfax County supervisors on Feb. 8 directed staff from the county’s Facilities Management Department, Park Authority and other agencies to begin planning for a COVID-19 memorial that will be placed on property owned by the county government or its park system.
According to the supervisors’ directive, county staff must return to the board by May 1 with a memorandum outlining a cost estimate, timeline and design options for the memorial.
“We know that everyone has been affected by COVID-19 in some way or another and we know these impacts will be with us forever,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D), who advanced the proposal in a board matter. “This is why my office has already been working with our senior county team on the creation of a COVID-19 memorial in honor of all those lost and impacted these last two years.”
Since the pandemic began 23 months ago, Fairfax County has recorded more than 170,000 COVID cases that resulted in more than 4,400 hospitalizations and 1,284 deaths, McKay said.
How many of those deaths were from COVID, as opposed to those who died of something else but had COVID in their system, is not reported.