Arlington National Cemetery announced Monday that it is canceling its annual Wreaths Across America event due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Every December, hundreds of volunteers lay wreaths on the headstones of fallen veterans and service members at the cemetery. This year, after conducting a “thorough analysis,” officials said they could not “implement sufficient controls to mitigate the risks associated with hosting an event of this size under current and forecasted infection and transmission rates, while still conducting a respectful and honorable public event.”
“We did not make this decision lightly. Despite the controls developed to disperse potential crowds in time and space, and required personal safety protocols, we determined that hosting any event of this scale risked compromising our ability to accomplish our core mission of laying veterans and their eligible family members to rest,” Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of the Office of Army National Cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery, said in a news release.
“We reviewed various options to safely execute this long standing event and held numerous consultations with WAA leadership and local government and public health officials,” she said. “We understand that although this is disappointing for so many, we could no longer envision a way to safely accommodate the large number of visitors we typically host during this event.”
Charles “Ray” Alexander, superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery said it is his “strong hope” that the event will be able to safely resume in 2021.
