New Yorkers will honor people who lost their lives to the coronavirus by flying flags at half-mast.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the gesture on Wednesday after a second consecutive day of record-breaking deaths. On Tuesday, 779 New Yorkers died after testing positive for the coronavirus. This broke the single-day death toll record set on Monday, when 731 deaths were recorded.
“Just to put a perspective on this: 9/11, which so many of us lived through in this state and in this nation, 2,753 lives lost,” Cuomo said. “This crisis, we lost 6,268 New Yorkers. I’m going to direct all flags to be flown at half-mast in honor of those who we have lost to this virus.”
Cuomo also noted that many of those who have died were healthcare workers.
“We have lost people, many of them front-line workers, many of them healthcare workers, many of them people who were doing the essential functions that we all needed for society to go on, and they were putting themselves at risk, and they knew they were.” he said.
