The Italian city that suffered the brunt of COVID-19’s first deadly wave in Europe is dedicating a vivid memorial to the pandemic dead: a grove of trees, creating oxygen in a park opposite the hospital where so many died, unable to breathe.
Bergamo, in northern Italy, is among the many communities around the world dedicating memorials to commemorate lives lost in a pandemic that is nearing the terrible threshold of five million confirmed dead.
This is how the Old Square in the centre of Bergamo, Italy, looked as three-quarters of the country entered a strict pandemic lockdown in mid-March of this year. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)
Memorial flags, hearts, ribbons and other simple objects have stood in for virus victims, representing lost lives in eye-catching memorials from London to Washington D.C., and Brazil to South Africa.
The collective impact of white flags covering eight hectares on the National Mall in the U.S. capital is one such display, representing the more than 740,000 Americans killed by COVID-19 — the highest official national death toll in the world.
Meanwhile, a giant red heart sculpture installed this week in New York’s Central Park as a tribute to health-care workers and COVID-19 victims has been taken down — an apparent casualty of confusion and red tape.
Italian sculptor Sergio Furnari says he was walking by the park on Thursday afternoon with friends when he noticed that his Heroes Heart Monument, which stood three metres high and weighed more than 1,300 kilograms, was gone.
Furnari conceded he did not have a permit to place the heart in the park but considered a $4,000 US grant he received from New York City’s government to be his permit for the temporary installation. He said he considered the removal of his memorial “an abuse of power.”
A memorial wall along the River Thames in London also conveys the scale of lives lost, with pink and red hearts painted by bereaved loved ones. Walking the memorial’s length without pausing to read names and inscriptions takes a full nine minutes.
The hearts represent the more than 140,000 coronavirus deaths in Britain, Europe’s second-highest toll after Russia; like elsewhere in the world, the actual number is estimated to be much higher, at 160,000.
Volunteer Amanda Herring, who lost her brother Mark to COVID-19, writes on the COVID-19 memorial wall in Westminster in London. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press)
“It shocks people,” said Fran Hall, a spokesperson for the group COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. She lost her husband, Steve Mead, in September 2020, the day before his 66th birthday.
“Every time we are here, people stop and talk to us, and quite often they are moved to tears as they are walking by and thank us.”
In Brazil’s capital, relatives of COVID-19 victims planted thousands of white flags in front of Brazil’s Congress in a one-day, emotion-laden action meant to raise awareness of Brazil’s toll of more than 600,000 deaths, the second-highest in the world.
And in South Africa, blue and white ribbons are tied to a fence at St. James Presbyterian Church in Bedford Gardens, east of Johannesburg, to remember the country’s 89,000 dead — each blue ribbon counting for 10 lives, white for one.
White flags representing people who have died of COVID-19 in Brazil cover a field as part of a protest against the government’s health policies outside the National Congress in Brasilia, on Oct. 15. (Eraldo Peres/The Associated Press)
Italy has not dedicated a national monument to its roughly 132,000 confirmed dead, but it has designated a coronavirus remembrance day. Prime Minister Mario Draghi stood among the first newly planted trees in Bergamo’s Trucca Park on March 18, the anniversary of the indelible image of army trucks bringing dead to other cities for cremation after the city’s morgue was overwhelmed.
Bergamo’s mayor said the city considered proposals for statues or plaques bearing the names of the dead. One was too monumental; the other ignored that so many dead were not officially counted due to lack of testing.
“The Woods of Memory is a living monument, and it immediately seemed to us to be the most convincing, the most emotive and the one that was closest to our sentiments,” Bergamo Mayor Giorgio Gori said.
Only 100 trees have been planted so far of the 700 that are planned, facing the hospital’s morgue. The rest should be planted by next year’s March 18 remembrance day.
There are no plans to add names, but in at least one case, loved ones have claimed a sapling. Roses are planted at the base, with personal mementos hanging from it and a white rock bearing a handwritten name: Sergio.
What’s happening in Canada
WATCH | NACI expands recommendations for booster shots:
NACI expands recommendations for booster shots
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has expanded recommendations for who should get a COVID-19 booster shot to include all seniors over the age of 80, Indigenous adults and some front-line health-care workers. Plus, is Canada falling behind by not giving booster shots to all adults? 3:20
Canadian health officials won’t be making a decision until the middle or end of November on whether the Pfizer vaccine will be approved for children aged 5 to 11, a senior official said on Friday.
However, they did recommend a wider group of vaccinated Canadians get booster shots.
NACI is also recommending third shots for people fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot, as well as people aged 70 or older, more front-line health-care workers and people from Indigenous communities.
WATCH | Parents reflect on putting kids through COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials:
Parents reflect on putting kids through COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials
Ian Hanomansing talks to three U.S. parents about what it was like to have their children take part in clinical trials for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. 6:59
Although NACI makes recommendations, it’s up to the provinces and territories to decide who will be offered booster shots.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott plans to unveil details next week about when people in the province can expect to receive their third shot.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday gave the green light to the Pfizer vaccine for use in children aged 5 to 11. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must sign off before shots can be distributed, but with that approval, vaccinations could begin as early as next week.
Bakeries, diners and bars serve up defiance to Alberta’s vaccine passport program.
What’s happening around the world
As of midday Saturday, more than 246.3 million COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s online coronavirus database. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.9 million.
In Europe, Russia on Saturday reported 40,251 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, its highest single-day case tally since the start of the pandemic.
The government’s coronavirus task force reported 1,160 deaths related to the virus, three short of the daily record of 1,163 set the day before. The death toll since the pandemic began is about 462,000, state statistics service Rosstat said Friday.
Russia will go into a nationwide workplace shutdown in the first week of November, and the capital Moscow has reimposed a partial lockdown beginning Thursday, with only essential shops, such as pharmacies and supermarkets, allowed to remain open.
In the Americas, 11 U.S. states with Republican governors sued the Biden administration on Friday seeking to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, arguing it is unconstitutional and violates federal procurement law.
And in Kansas, hundreds of people opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates rallied Saturday at the Kansas Statehouse, encouraged by Republicans who see President Joe Biden’s policies as a spur for higher turnout among conservative voters.
The rally kicked off ahead of a rare weekend legislative committee hearing on mandates that affect as many as 100 million Americans. The hearing gave dozens of mandate opponents a chance to vent their frustration and anger both with the Democratic president’s administration and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
