CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN on a memorial at the Monterey County Government Center in Salinas for Monterey County residents who lost their lives to COVID-19.
The monument to loved ones who died during the pandemic will include five transparent multi-colored glass panels with a seating area and plants that will be installed along the pedestrian plaza across from the Crime Victims Memorial at the county government center and courthouse on West Alisal Street.
There were 940 Monterey County residents who lost their lives to the disease between 2020 and June, according to a news release from the county.
Farmworkers were some of the most impacted, especially during 2020, when the virus first arrived in the United States, and many occupations shifted to working from home.
Farmworkers in Monterey County were testing positive for COVID-19 at nearly four times the rate as the county’s general population during the first months of the pandemic, with rates at community clinics coming back 22% positive for agriculture workers, compared to 6% for other residents in the county, according to a 2021 study published in the American Medical Association’s peer-reviewed online journal JAMA Network Open.
United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero said that the sacrifices made by farmworkers and their families should not be forgotten during a time when many feel under attack.
“Farm workers put their lives on the line every day during the pandemic, continuing to go to work in person to feed America while so many others stayed home,” Romero said in a statement.
“Many workers paid the ultimate price. That contribution and loss should never be forgotten. At the time they were called essential, but today they are treated as disposable. It is necessary to honor farm workers’ role as frontline heroes during the pandemic — not just with monuments or words, but with the laws of our society and the choices of our leaders,” Romero said.
The memorial was championed by Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo as far back as 2021. He earmarked $100,000 in discretionary spending from his District 1 budget to kick off a fundraising campaign for the $340,000 project. Funds were raised through the Community Foundation for Monterey County.
“Each life lost to Covid-19 mattered and leaves a hole in the hearts of loved ones, family members, friends and surrounding community,” Alejo said in a statement provided by the county.
“These were our grandparents, parents, relatives, and friends–loved ones we lost to this devastating pandemic since 2020,” he wrote in a separate statement on X.
The memorial will include a bench, landscaping, and solar lighting for the five panels that represent each of the five supervisorial districts in Monterey County. Each panel will be made of multiple pieces of colored glass in different tones of the panel’s color, which is meant to represent the county’s diversity, according to the county’s news release.
Construction is expected to be completed in early August, at which time a dedication ceremony will be held.