A new community-driven website has been set up to memorialize those in Kentucky who died of COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The creator of WhoWeLostKY.org hopes the site can go beyond statistics and instead share stories of those who died from the virus, in an effort to give families and friends an outlet during a time when funerals and memorial services were often kept small for safety.
"With the absence of funerals and memorial services due to social isolation, people haven't had a chance to say a lot of what normally would have been said in public in a different way," said Martha Greenwald, founder of the site. "This provides an opportunity for people to get a story out there that maybe they didn't get to tell or wish they could have told."
Greenwald said she also hopes the site can be a way for people to better understand the human toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact that it's had on many families across the state.
More than 6,500 Kentuckians have died from the virus so far and nearly 500 of those lived in the Northern Kentucky region.
"We want to make sure that people are remembered," said Greenwald. "Because with the virus declining and vaccinations here, people are starting to forget already how many people died. And the people who are left behind really feel left behind because they can't share that joy."
