ATLANTA — Row upon row of empty chairs sat eerily still on the lawn near the Georgia state Capitol Wednesday afternoon. It was a somber representation of the human toll the coronavirus has taken, matched by the cold and gloomy weather.
The 1,000 chairs - gathered to represent the nearly 10,000 people who've died from the coronavirus across the state - were placed by Georgia members of the COVID Survivors for Change, a self-described grassroots network of survivors of, and those who've lost family to, the disease.
“I understand all too well, the pain and heartache of losing someone to this pandemic," said Conyers, Georgia member Carol Lewis, whose 86-year-old father, a Korean War vet, died of COVID-19.
“In our current reality, we have no closure to our losses," she said.
So far in Georgia, 9,300 people have died as a result of the virus, just a piece of the staggering more than 300,000 lives lost across the nation.
And while there is hope on the horizon, with vaccines already arriving in the state, the group called for a better national pandemic response plan - and for Georgians who can, to make their concerns heard by voting in the important runoff election.
"We have suffered at the hands of apathetic leadership that has shown a blatant disregard for the lives of thousands of Americans," Lewis accused. "This is our time to come together and let our voices be heard across the state and throughout our nation."
As the group honored the lives lost, Gainesville, Georgia member Maria Del Rosario Palacios urged all to remember "how difficult it is to take a breath in the midst of COVID-19" and to make sure "none of those breaths are forgotten," she said.
"Please do your part as individuals, as groups and as policy makers. Let's make sure that none of these lives are lost in vain.”
