Southern Nevada joins others across U.S. to honor COVID-19 victims

Twenty-nine lights illuminate the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

Violinists Dmytro Nehrych, left, and Wonyoung Na perform as 29 lights illuminate the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick speaks before an illumination of 29 lights at the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

Violinists Wonyoung Na, left, and Dmytro Nehrych perform as 29 lights illuminate the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

People record with their phones as 29 illuminate the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

Projections of angels are beamed inside rotunda at the Clark County Government Center along with 29 illuminating lights as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

Candles are pictured as 29 lights illuminate the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Las Vegas. The 29 lights represent the nearly 2,900 residents of Clark County who have passed away due to COVID-19. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

Amber lights illuminate the gateway arches in downtown Las Vegas as part of a remembrance for victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

The city of Las Vegas lit its gateway arches on Las Vegas Boulevard and lights on Main Street a light amber color. Clark County illuminated the government center’s indoor rotunda.

The two jurisdictions were among the many communities across the U.S. on Tuesday afternoon participating in a request from the Presidential Inauguration Committee: a show of national unity and remembrance for the 400,000-plus people who have succumbed to the coronavirus in America.

The county’s rotunda featured 29 beams of light — roughly one for every 100 of the 2,873 people who have perished in the county.

During a 2:30 p.m. commemoration, scheduled to be in unison with requested remembrances throughout the U.S., county lawmakers urged the region to honor the lives lost but also to commit to the necessary steps to overcome the pandemic.

Las Vegan Daniel Scully, 69, in March was the first Nevadan with the coronavirus to die.

“I don’t think that any of us thought that we were going to be here 10 months later, but I do know that we have worked hard, we will continue to work hard as a community to help us get through this,” Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick said during the county’s remembrance.

The county’s coronavirus death toll stood above 2,800 as of Tuesday, according to the Southern Nevada Health District, but Kirkpatrick said there was optimism about turning the corner as vaccinations continue to roll out.

And while Commissioner Jim Gibson said work remained to be done, he encouraged people to do their part to take the virus seriously and to get a vaccination when it is offered.

The pandemic became personal for Gibson when he lost one of his closest friends a couple of months ago, he said, as he called the 29 columns of light inside the rotunda a “stark reminder of the enormity of what has befallen us.”

“Our commitment is that we not just remember but that we are motivated to act in a responsible way that may bring us to a place where we’re really safe here,” he said. “That’s our hope.”

Violinists Wonyoung Na and Dmytro Nehrych, performing as Sweet Tone, played following the commissioners’ remarks.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.