Kentucky’s monument to honor those who died due to COVID-19 is nearly completed, and a dedication ceremony has been scheduled to take place next week on the grounds of the State Capitol. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 2:00pmET and the public is invited.
Gov. Beshear said “This is a memorial where people can come to remember those loved ones they’ve lost,” he said, “and also recognize the amazing sacrifices and heroism of our first responders, our health care heroes and others.
Kentucky native Amanda Matthews, an artist and chief executive officer of Lexington-based Prometheus Foundry, was commissioned to create the permanent Team Kentucky COVID-19 Memorial. It is located in the area of the Capitol grounds in Frankfort known as Monument Park.
The memorial, titled “United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” which is Kentucky’s state motto, will honor Kentucky’s losses and sacrifices since March 2020 and remind future generations of the challenges Kentuckians overcame together.
According to the Kentucky Department for Public Health, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 18,000 Kentuckians, and more than 1.7 million in the state have tested positive for the coronavirus since the first case was reported in the state on March 6, 2020.
