MEMORIAL TRIBUTE

Saratoga County to join national COVID lighting ceremony tonight

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » Saratoga County officials announced it will join the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s (PIC) National COVID-19 Memorial Tribute by lighting all County Buildings at the Main County Complex starting 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

The lights will remain on for the entire night.

The County is participating in this event from an invitation sent by the National Association of Counties (NACo), of which Saratoga County is a member. The PIC COVID-19 Memorial event is an opportunity to honor community members who have been lost to COVID-19 and to highlight the role that counties have played in public service during the pandemic.

Memorializing those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 has been identified as a goal of Theodore Kusnierz, Chairman of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.

“During my remarks at our Board’s organizational meeting, I made it a point to seek a permanent county memorial to recognize those who have succumbed to COVID-19. This National tribute is a great first step in memorializing family, friends and neighbors who, sadly, have been lost to the virus during this global pandemic,” Kusnierz said in a press release.

“I asked our Buildings staff if this is something we could do, and they indicated that the County Complex can be lit up for the entire night and that the staff would ensure that happens. It is a very fitting tribute to all those lost from the County due to COVID-19,” said Matthew Veitch, Chairman of the Buildings & Grounds Committee, who received the invitation from NACo and proposed that Saratoga County join the effort.

Nationally, on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s inauguration in Washington, a 5:30 p.m. ceremony will feature a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. It

is touted as the first lighting around the Reflecting Pool to memorialize American lives lost.

According to the Saratoga County COVID dashboard, through Jan. 15. there have been 8,733 reported COVID cases in the county (3,883 active), with 76 deaths. There are currently 106 hospitalized, with a seven-day rolling testing positivity rate of 8.8 percent.

Officials remain dedicated to protecting its residents and ending the COVID-19 crisis in the region.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SARATOGA COUNTY The lights at all Saratoga County Office Buildings at the Main County Complex will remain on for the entire night on Tuesday, Jan. 19 as part of a nationwide COVID-19 Memorial Tribute.

SCREENSHOT IMAGE/FILE Saratoga County Board of Supervisors chairman Theodore Kusnierz speaks during a recent press conference at the Board of Supervisors Chamber at the Saratoga County Office Building in Ballston Spa.