Santa Monica joins other cities in effort to establish national holiday honoring those lost to COVID

By Alex Chaney | ABC7

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC) -- After a full year since the first known COVID-19 death in the United States, people all over America on Monday remembered the friends, neighbors and family members lost to the disease, in what's become a national day of mourning.

Santa Monica is joining more than 100 other cities to proclaim the first Monday of March as COVID Memorial Day in an effort to make it a national holiday.

Some took the time to remember those individuals lost at the city's Rose River Memorial, which features handmade felt roses from all over Southern California dedicated to those that have died from the virus.

Those who showed up said memorials like these make them feel recognized and not alone in their grief.

One woman who lost four family members, including her husband, to the virus says COVID