Photo by Norbert Kundrak on Unsplash
March 14, 2021, will mark one year since the first resident of New York City died from COVID-19. In his last press conference of 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the date will be an official day of remembrance in the city. “We need to recognize 25,000 of our fellow New Yorkers gone. That’s something we have to always mark going forward. And we [have] to remember them by one, being there for their families, by two, honoring those who did so much to try to save them and three, by working to make this city better all the time in their memory.”
The first known case of COVID-19 in New York was reported on March 1. The following day, Governor Cuomo announced a new initiative to perform 1,000 tests per day in the state. Nearly a year later, the state performed close to 250,000 tests on its record-high day December 12. The first COVID-related death on March 14 was an 82-year-old New York City woman who suffered from emphysema.
According to New York Times data as of today, 1.04 million people across New York state have been infected with the coronavirus; 38,167 have died. In New York City specifically, 451,000 have been infected and 25,284 have died.
“2020 is going to go down in history as one of our saddest, toughest years, arguably the toughest year in the history of New York City. Thank God we all came through those of us who made it, but we [have] to remember those who didn’t make it,” said the mayor.
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Tags : Bill de Blasio, coronavirus
