With the coronavirus claiming the lives of nearly 18,000 Kentuckians, Gov. Andy Beshear announced during his weekly press conference that construction for the Team Kentucky COVID-19 Memorial on the Capitol grounds is currently underway.
Titled "United We Stand, Divided We Fall," the memorial, which will be located in Monument Park at the end of Capital Avenue where the loop around the Capitol starts, to honor the victims of COVID-19 since March 2020 and serve as a symbol of the struggles we overcame together for generations of Kentuckians to come.
"We have seen heroic efforts of so many people, including our healthcare heroes, all of whom deserve to be recognized," the governor said. "This is a major traumatic but also historic event that we have all lived through together. To memorialize and to remember both the good and the bad is really important."
Native Kentuckian Amanda Matthews, who is an artist and chief executive officer of Prometheus Foundry in Lexington, has been commissioned to build the memorial, which is being constructed using privately raised funding. No state money is involved and the COVID Memorial Advisory Panel, consisting of healthcare heroes, family members and loved ones of those who have passed away as well as coronavirus survivors, chose the final design for the memorial.
"I certainly hope that the next pandemic is 100 years in the future," Beshear continued, "but it is important that we prepare people for the next time to do even better, to lose fewer people, and to keep that full sense of unity during the entire time that we battle something like this."
Officials had hoped that the memorial's erection and dedication would take place in March 2022. However, supply chain issues forced the date to be pushed back. Beshear expects that the memorial will be completed this spring or "maybe a little earlier."
We believe the new memorial honoring the victims as well as survivors of the coronavirus pandemic is a great idea and will be beneficial for both those who have lost loved ones to the virus and those who fought the virus on the frontlines. We applaud those involved in the project and think it will be a welcome addition to the Capitol grounds.
-- Frankfort State Journal, Jan. 17