Nationwide event will memorialize American lives lost to COVID-19

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – The American lives lost to COVID-19 will be remembered during President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural events.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced a January 19th memorial will be held in locations across the country and at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in the nation’s capital.

That ceremony will feature lighting around the reflecting pool. The first-ever, according to the committee, to memorialize American lives lost.

More than 340,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The committee is inviting cities and towns around the country to illuminate buildings and ring church bells at 5:30 p.m. EST in what it’s calling a national moment of unity and remembrance.