By Denzel Dickens
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Gov. Larry Hogan held a twilight vigil Friday night on the steps of the State House in Annapolis to honor the Maryland residents who have died from COVID-19 within the past year.
To mark the one-year anniversary, Hogan announced that 7,748 Maryland citizens succumbed to COVID-19 and most of them passed without being able to have their loved ones by their side. He proclaimed March 5 COVID-19 Day of Remembrance, and ordered the Maryland flag to fly at half-staff.
County and municipal governments across the state joined the observance by illuminating landmarks amber, which officials said reflected the State House dome and Government House.
“In those early hours of the crisis, as we began to take unprecedented actions to bring our entire public health arsenal to bear against this invisible enemy, none of us could truly have fathomed the toll that this global pandemic would take on our lives, and on our very way of life,” Hogan said remembering the early days of the pandemic last year.
“But it was no surprise that Marylanders rose to meet this crisis with great courage and compassion,” he added, explaining that doctors and nurses came out of retirement to help on the front lines and National Guardsmen distributed meals and provided other services.
“To the businesses that shifted their operations overnight in order to make mask, produce hand sanitizer, and manufacture face shields, together we marshalled an incredible statewide response, and in doing so we showed the nation and the world what it means to be ‘Maryland Strong,’” he said.
On Saturday, one day after the remembrance, Hogan announced that the state is reporting 50,484 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered over the past 24 hours—breaking its single-day record and exceeding 50,000 for the first time. The state has surpassed 1.5 million vaccines administered to date, he said in a press release.