Whether it be due to the loss of loved ones, the hardships of lockdown, or its economic fallout, the Covid-19 pandemic is a trauma we all share. We must remember it fittingly.
The National Covid Memorial Wall already does that. Stretching over 0.5km long, and decorated with over 200,000 bright-red hearts to represent the dead, it’s a striking reminder of the pain we suffered.
Despite being established in March 2021, almost three years later, it’s never received the government’s official approval.
Bereaved wives and daughters battling to preserve South Bank Covid Memorial Wall with 200,000 hearts
Funded and decorated by volunteers, there’s no telling whether it’ll still be there in five or ten years. If those volunteers can no longer tend to it, the Thames spray will eventually mean it fades away.
It shouldn’t have taken this long for central government to decide whether to back its right to exist. Millions of lives have been irreversibly changed by the pandemic – some would say worsened by government’s management of the crisis. The least it can do is allow us a fitting tribute.
There are also very practical reasons for keeping it. Why spend millions on establishing a brand-new monument? Presumably, it would be some sort of monolith designed by an artist of the government’s choosing.
We already have The National Covid Memorial Wall, a monument that has sprung up organically and truly belongs to the people.
So we urge the government, St Thomas’s Hospital and other authorities to get around the table and discuss properly how we can retain this remarkable symbol of a struggle so many endured.