It was a distant day for Memorial Day ceremonies in Georgia, even as officials worked to contain crowds at parks and beaches amid concerns about the further spread of the coronavirus.
The Georgia Army National Guard continued a recent string of honorary flyovers with two featuring UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, one in metro Atlanta and one in coastal and southwest Georgia. The formations hovered over sites with military significance as well as large hospitals that have been treating people with COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.
“We will pause for a few moments this day to recognize the sacrifice of our service members and our families,” Maj. Gen. Tom Carden said. “It is part of our culture to remember and to honor, and it is going to take more than a global pandemic to change that part of us.”
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose past 43,000 Monday, with the number of confirmed deaths reported at 1,848. The number of tests passed 500,000, but that includes tens of thousands of blood tests aimed at finding antibodies in people who may have already had the illness.
Other ceremonies shifted online. In Augusta, the Military Order of World Wars created a video to honor those who lost their lives in war instead of hosting a ceremony downtown.
