Memorial to honour Winnipeggers lost to COVID-19

A temporary memorial has been set up at The Forks to honour all the Manitobans who died from COVID-19. (Photos by Glenn Pismenny)

As the pandemic reached the two-year mark, a temporary memorial will honour the Winnipeggers lost to COVID-19.

Mayor Brian Bowman announced the memorial on Wednesday, noting this Friday marks two years since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020.

“Candles will once again be lit in front of a dimmed Winnipeg sign from March 11 to 13 for each of the Winnipeggers lost to COVID-19,” he said in a news release.

Winnipeg saw its first presumptive case of COVID-19 on March 12, 2020, with the first resident dying from the virus on March 27, 2020.

Last year, the city created a similar memorial that was updated each day and ended with a total of 650 candles.

This year, another 406 candles will be added to the memorial for a total of 1,058. The number of candles will be updated daily as required.

Since the start of the pandemic, 1,700 Manitobans have died from COVID-19.

Bowman noted that as everyone has watched the daily COVID-19 statistics, we can sometimes lose track of the fact that these are real people in our community with families and friends.

“We have continued to lose Winnipeggers sooner than we would have without the pandemic and this memorial is meant as a small gesture to the families and friends who’ve lost someone to COVID-19,” he said.

The team at The Forks will help to set up the candles. The CN Stage sign will also be dimmed from March 11 to 13.