BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. death toll for COVID-19 surpassed 400,000 on Tuesday. Worldwide more than 2 million people have died from the virus.
Tuesday night, Buffalo City Hall and many other buildings were illuminated in the color Amber. It was part of a national memorial to remember and honor all of the lives lost to COVID-19. The lighting event coincided with the special lighting ceremony at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C.
In Erie County, 1,393 people died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. While the majority of deaths are in people 70 and older, Erie County data shows 103 people have died under the age of 60.
"We are continuing to see a high rate of death or high number of deaths associated with COVID-19," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
During a briefing Tuesday, Poloncarz said in just the last seven days, 57 people died in Erie County of COVID-19. He said he hopes that as our hospitalizations decline, deaths will also decline in the coming weeks.
Poloncarz also took a moment to remind everyone to remember the people behind the statistics.
"We are losing people in the prime of their lives." he said. "They are brothers and sisters, they are children of individuals. They are young parents in some situations. We do offer our deepest condolences to the family members of loved ones and all who have lost someone to this terrible pandemic."
Three-hundred and three people in Erie County died in December from COVID-19, the highest number of deaths per month on record.
New York State Funeral Director Association Executive Director Michael Lanotte said local funeral homes have been busy.
"Unfortunately it doesn't take a lot of additional deaths from COVID on a daily basis to start to stress the system," Lanotte said. "So, we have heard from our members out in the Buffalo area, we do know they have experienced a much higher number of calls to the funeral home due to the increased number of COVID deaths. But again they've continued to handle everything very professionally with a lot of care to make sure they are serving the families who have lost a loved one."