New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday honored city health care workers, first responders, essential workers and those who lost their lives to COVID-19 on the fifth anniversary of the first confirmed death in the five boroughs from the global pandemic.
Since the pandemic was declared in New York City in 2020, there have been more than three million cases of COVID-19 in New York City, more than 240,000 hospitalizations, and more than 46,825 people have died from the virus, according to a press release.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst became the epicenter of the pandemic, and as emergency departments flooded with sick patients across all five boroughs, health care heroes sprang into action, rushing to the frontlines to provide care for their patients and fight back against an unknown virus that, at the time, left the world wondering about its infectivity, diagnosis and treatment.
“More than 46,000 New Yorkers lost their lives to COVID-19 in the past five years — first responders, health care workers, teachers, essential workers, and more — but all of them left a whole were someone’s family,” said Adams.
March 14 will be a day of remembrance, the mayor said.
"We will remember how the city came together to mask up, social distance, open up outdoor dining, test and trace, roll out vaccines, pivot to online learning and work together in countless other ways to keep each other safe from the virus that took one too many of our fellow New Yorkers," he said.
Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said she honors frontline workers who gave so much to help during such a trying time.
“We will forever remember the parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, and other loved ones lost to the virus," she added.
