City of Long Beach Seeks Photo Submissions for Digital COVID-19 Memorial

Long Beach, CA - The City of Long Beach will create a digital memorial to remember and honor residents who have died from COVID-19. The announcement comes as the City marks 1,000 COVID-19-related deaths recorded as of midnight Thursday, September 16, 2021, by the Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department).

"These people were our friends, neighbors and loved ones," said Mayor Robert Garcia. "My heart goes out to every single person who has lost a loved one to COVID-19."

The City is now collecting photographs from friends and family of those who lost their lives to create a digital memorial wall. Visitors to the site at longbeach.gov/covid19digitalmemorial, where the photos can be submitted, will be able to write messages in memory of those who died. While separate from the ongoing City of Long Beach COVID-19 Memorial visioning process and development, the digital memorial will be provided to the committee to inform their process.

"Over the past 18 months, COVID-19 has been our leading single cause of death in Long Beach," said Health Department Director Kelly Colopy. "Even more devastating is that some of those deaths were preventable - most of the approximately 65 lives lost since the vaccine became widely available were among those who were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. We continue to work to help people understand the importance of the vaccine in protecting our residents in Long Beach."

For comparison, since March 2020, there have been 986 deaths due to all cancers, 835 deaths due to coronary heart disease, 270 due to cerebrovascular diseases, 282 due to Alzheimer's Disease, 208 due to chronic lower respiratory disease, and 201 due to Diabetes.

The City of Long Beach also will light City facilities tonight to honor those who have died.

The City's first death due to complications from COVID-19 was reported in late March 2020. That number reached 500 in mid-January 2021. Of the 1,000 people who died since the start of the pandemic in Long Beach: 84 were ages 18 to 49; 213 were ages 50 to 64; and 703 were ages 65 and over.

Those who are not yet vaccinated against COVID-19 are urged to protect the lives and the lives of their loved ones by getting vaccinated. The City's vaccine clinics are open six days per week across Long Beach and mobile vaccine vans can visit those who are unable to travel to a City vaccine site. Appointments for vaccines are encouraged, though not required. The schedule is posted in English, Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog at longbeach.gov/vaxlb. People interested in scheduling an appointment or need further information may call 562.570.4636 or email [email protected] for assistance. People also may make appointments via My Turn.

For the latest information on COVID-19, with details on all that the City of Long Beach is doing to keep our residents safe, visit longbeach.gov/COVID19 and follow @LongBeachCity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. People may also visit longbeach.gov/COVID19data for up to date information regarding cases and vaccines in Long Beach.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.