Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
COVID-19 outbreak impacts flag distribution for Memorial Day
EAGLEVILLE » While Montgomery County officials expressed their “deepest gratitude” to those who have died while in service to the nation, they said due to the coronavirus outbreak and social distancing recommendations they will postpone the distribution of more than 50,000 flags that organizations typically place on veterans’ graves for Memorial Day.
In a time-honored, annual tradition, the county Office of Veterans Affairs has marked the solemn holiday by purchasing and
distributing about 59,000 flags to 59 organizations that place the flags at 212 locations, including the graves of veterans. The organizations include Boy Scout troops, Veterans of Foreign War posts, church organizations and various civic clubs.
“Memorial Day honors those who have died while in service to our nation. We owe these individuals our deepest gratitude. We have purchased the flags for this year, but we are going to postpone distributing them. Bringing these large numbers of groups together creates the very situation that we have been working so hard as a community to avoid,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh explained during a Wednesday news briefing at the county Emergency Operation Center.
“The county’s Office of Veterans Affairs is planning to move the placing of the 59,000 flags on graves to the Fourth of July holiday when we believe we will be able to honor the fallen with less risk to the volunteers and to our community,” Arkoosh explained. “The Office of Veterans Affairs will distribute the flags using appropriate social distancing techniques in plenty of time to let groups prepare for the Fourth of July holiday.”
Representatives of some local VFW posts expressed disappointment with the county’s decision and had been trying to get the flags released in time for Memorial Day.
“We appreciate the feedback we have received on this decision, some of which has been positive. But we fully acknowledge the frustration that has been expressed by some VFW veterans groups,” Arkoosh said.
“This has been a spring of extraordinarily tough decisions. We have asked businesses to close their doors, religious celebrations to take place over Zoom, high school graduations and weddings to be cancelled. We will still honor our veterans who gave their lives in service to this great country on Memorial Day but we will postpone the placing of flags until the Fourth of July holiday,” Arkoosh said.
Officials said the county, on Memorial Day, plans to light the Norristown courthouse red, white and blue and place flags with a mourning ribbon on the courthouse grounds.
“We will share these images widely via social media,” Arkoosh said.
“It goes without saying, that family members can visit the graves of their loved ones and place flags on Memorial Day. We just ask that if members of different households are doing this together that they wear masks and practice physical distancing at the gravesite,” Arkoosh added.
In making the decision to not distribute flags at this time, Arkoosh said officials reviewed what other organizations in the region are doing for Memorial Day, and said the Philadelphia National Cemetery issued an alert asking visitors to stay in their vehicles to practice social distancing when visiting a gravesite.
“The American Legion has announced that they will practice a virtual Memorial Day on social media. They are asking American Legion family members and those outside of the organization to share with them the names of those that you will honor and remember on Memorial Day. Their plan is to compile a list and begin sharing those names regularly via their social media channels over Memorial Day weekend,” Arkoosh said.
Commissioner Joseph C. Gale, the lone Republican on the three-member commissioners’ board, expressed his opposition to the decision during Thursday’s board meeting.
“I think it’s a shame and disrespectful,” Gale said. “I want the public to be aware that it was not my choice.”
Gale said that there are nearly 60,000 flags “literally
sitting in boxes,” and suggested the county is “legally obligated” to “supply flags” for people to place them at area cemeteries.
“I have confidence in our citizens that they know [to] take that responsibility upon themselves to safely honor our veterans in cemeteries in such a way and it’s a shame that a totalitarian-style overreaching … government would prevent them to do so,” Gale said.
Social distancing mitigation measures are expected to still be in place in the region come Memorial Day.
Gov. Tom Wolf drafted a color-coded plan to reopen the state that will measure the COVID-19 cases to determine if the target goal of an average of less than 50 cases per 100,000 individuals over the course of a 14day period is met.
In order to meet the governor’s target of less than 50 cases per 100,000 people, the county, which has a population of 830,915, would have to see a reduction to 415 cases over 14 days, for a daily average of 30 cases. Recently, the county had a daily average of about 187 cases.
Other factors to be considered in order to reopen are the area’s hospital utilization rates, the availability of tests and the development of a contact tracing program.
The county is currently in the “red phase” of Wolf’s plan, which mandates that only life sustaining businesses can be open, large gatherings are prohibited and there is a stay-at-home order in place.
Even if the county is given the go-ahead to move to the more relaxed “yellow phase,” large gatherings would still be prohibited. Specifically, gatherings of more than 25 people would be prohibited.