Mar 15, 2021 2 min read COVID-19

Brooklyn Bridge Photo Projection Pays Tribute to Lives Lost to COVID

Images of some of the New Yorkers lost to the pandemic were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge during the COVID-19 Day of Remembrance ceremony (Image: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

The city paid tribute to some of the 30,000 New Yorkers who lost their lives to the coronavirus by projecting their images on the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday night.

The tribute was part of New York City’s COVID-19 Day of Remembrance ceremony, which marked one year since the city’s first known COVID-19 death was confirmed on March 14th, 2020.

“Every morning, the first thing I see is a list, and there are numbers on it,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press event in Brooklyn Heights, as projected images flickered on the bridge behind him. “But what it really means is how many people we lost. How many New Yorkers are gone. How many neighbors. How many members of our family. It’s a number we can hardly imagine.”

In addition to Mayor de Blasio, remarks were provided by First Lady Chirlane McCray; faith leaders Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Imam Abdul Azeez and Cardinal Timothy Dolan; and NYC 2021 Youth Poet Laureate Serena Yang.

“To look at the mosaic is to feel the sorrow this virus has brought to every community,” McCray said. “Every home in our city.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray watch as images of some of the New Yorkers lost to the pandemic were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge during the ceremony. (Image: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

The ceremony also included musical performances by the New York Philharmonic and Bishop Hezekiah Walker and The Love Fellowship Choir, as well as a remembrance video produced by the artistic collective &Roses.

Several elected officials from Brooklyn and across the city also released statements to acknowledge the somber anniversary, while also expressing hope for a brighter future.

“As we look with optimism to the year ahead,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, “let us remember those we’ve lost, give gratitude for all that we have and share a renewed commitment to emerge from this crisis with a recovery that lifts up every New Yorker.”