PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Prince George’s County took time Friday night to remember its 1,300 residents who have lost their lives to coronavirus. An eight-minute tribute video played on repeat at National Harbor with words from County Executive Angela Alsobrooks expressing her condolences for the losses some of her constituents have experienced.
“I pray that you find strength and peace,” she said. “Despite the tremendous loss over the past year, we know that COVID-19 will not have the final say.”
Prince George’s Council Chairman Calvin S. Hawkins said it has been hard to experience so much pain and hurt in the community.
“This has been a tremendously difficult and challenging time,” he said.
As the sun went down on National Harbor, the Ferris Wheel turned to the color of amber to honor local victims of the coronavirus.
Cindy and Clarice Everett, of Western Maryland, serve as a nurse practitioner and nursing home speech therapist, respectively. They saw the tribute video at National Harbor.
“We’re just kind of humbled by it in a sense because working on the frontlines and everything, we've seen the loss, the tragedy, what people are going through,” Clarice Everett said.
Cindy Everett said it is still hard to deal with the cruelty of the disease.
“It's just everyday people that it affects,” she said. “And, you can't tell who it's going to affect or not.”
That’s a lesson Prince George’s County resident George Eccles knows well. He lost his wife, Mildred, to the coronavirus in September.
“We both had COVID together and we went to Washington Hospital Center and I came home and she didn't,” he said. “We were married for 41 years.“
He said he couldn’t help but think about what could have been.
“So many people, so many lives have been lost and some of them could have been saved,” he said. “And that's the hard part that I have to deal with is knowing that if we had known about it sooner, [had] we'd done something about it sooner, my wife still might be here with us.”