Empire State Building lights on eve of Biden inauguration to honor COVID-19 victims

The Empire State Building will be among several buildings across the country to light up on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration in honor of the Americans who died due to COVID-19.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced on Monday that the Manhattan skyscraper will light up as part of a “national moment of unity” at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Other buildings expected to participate include the Space Needle in Seattle as well as places in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Del.

The committee first announced the lighting ceremony in late December, in which the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool will be lit. Biden, incoming first lady Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, will be in Washington, D.C. participating in the ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the first Black U.S. Cardinal, will deliver the invocation. Gospel music icon Yolanda Adams and Lori Marie Key will also perform.

A video of Key, who is a nurse, singing Amazing Grace during a shift change at a hospital in Michigan went viral early last year.

PIC CEO Tony Allen said in a statement that the inauguration “represents the beginning of a new national journey — one that renews its commitment to honor its fallen and rise toward greater heights in their honor.”

“In that spirit, it is important that we pay tribute to those we have lost — and their families — and come together to unite our country, contain this virus, and rebuild our nation,” Allen said.