NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - A touching tribute for those who have died of COVID-19 has been put on display in North Miami.
On Wednesday, a ceremony for the reveal of Miami-Dade’s second makeshift cemetery for COVID-19 victims was held. More than 3,600 individuals have died from the novel coronavirus in Miami-Dade.
Hundreds of mock tombstones have been displayed at Griffing Park, set up for the community to pay tribute to the lives lost to the virus.
“It is devastating to everyone, Americans and to people all over the world,” U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-FL, said.
The Griffing Park Memorial Cemetery is the second of its kind in the county. On Oct. 14, community leaders brought one to Simonhoff Park in Liberty City.
Visitors showed up immediately to have their loved one’s name represented on the mock tombstones.
“You hear about it on TV every day, you see it on the news, but when it hits home, it hits you hard,” said Stephanie McKay, who lost her mother to COVID-19.
Councilwoman Mary Estimé-Irvin joined forces with Wilson to put together the latest memorial cemetery.
“At the beginning of this season, there were talks that this was not happening to the Black community, and this was not happening to our brothers and sisters, and we had to do a lot of educating on that,” said Estimé-Irvin.
Community leaders said that is one reason why a hard-hit community like North Miami needs the tribute to acknowledge and grieve.
“People are still grieving for their grandparents that they couldn’t visit in nursing homes, who died alone,” said Wilson. “All of us are grieving for our friends, whose funerals we could not attend.”
The memorial cemeteries are set to be on display through November, and they are open to the public.
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