Arlington Holds Ceremony To Remember Residents Lost To COVID-19

ARLINGTON, VA — The U.S. Army Brass Quintet played musical selections at an event in Courthouse Plaza Saturday afternoon, where county officials and Arlington’s poet laureate honored county residents who lost their lives over the past two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first Arlington resident died from COVID-19 on March 29, 2020. A total of 321 county residents have died from the disease over the past two years. In the county, there have been 35,142 confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus, and 1,076 residents have been hospitalized with the disease caused by the virus.

“We come together now as a community to acknowledge those we lost and to pay tribute to all they gave us, not because of the tragic reason in which they lost their lives to COVID but because of the incredible lives they gave and all that they gave to our community,” Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol said in a speech at the two-year COVID-19 remembrance.

Along with first responders and others in the community, members of Arlington County's Complete Vaccination Committee were honored at the event, outside the Ellen M. Bozman Government Center. The CVC volunteers joined the county board to ring chimes in memory of each of the 321 Arlingtonians who has died from COVID-19.

The CVC was established by Arlington County to bring together volunteers who would serve as ambassadors in their communities to increase awareness of the vaccine and share updates and vaccination information with residents. Arlington County Board Vice Chair Christian Dorsey thanked the committee members for their work during the pandemic "to help make sure other people could be safe."

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Holly Karapetkova, the poet laureate of Arlington County, spoke about how Saturday's event brought the county together to mourn its losses but also to celebrate the resilience of the community.

Karapetkova read a poem titled "Planting" that she wrote specifically for Saturday's remembrance. The poem recalls a time about a year ago when Karapetkova and her young daughter were planting seeds in their yard.

"I dig small holes with my fingers and my daughter drops in seeds and then we both smooth dirt on top," the poem reads. "Everyday she goes out with a watering can to check and one afternoon about a week later, she's jumping by the window, motioning for me to come outside and see the small green sprouts that will become lettuce or peas."

"Because her wonder is contagious, I allow myself to be amazed, too, by how the earth keeps going, putting forth its tiny seeds after every long winter, having faith some of them will dig in roots and grow," the poem concludes.

In a special video made to mark two years of living with COVID-19, Cristol spoke about how Arlington is a melting pot of cultures and religions, "all of which have some sort of tradition of coming together in times of loss" and how "too few of those have been available to us during the pandemic."

Cristol emphasized that Saturday's gathering was meant to remember everything that the 321 residents did to enrich the community and the ways that their memories "will be a blessing to us in Arlington County."

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