“May their memories
be a revolution.”
Turning Grief into Action
Marked By Covid is the survivor-led movement for pandemic justice and remembrance. We've organized dozens of vigils and workshops, hundreds of meetings with Congressional and state leaders, tens of thousands of letters to decision-makers, and more to ensure that we never forget our lost loved ones or the lessons we've learned.
In February 2021, Marked By COVID released a comprehensive “Five R” policy platform. The platform is based on input from Activists and addresses the policy needs brought to light by the pandemic, including Response, Recovery, Restitution, Resiliency, and Recognition. The plan centers the needs of those most impacted, is commensurate to the scale of the problem, addresses both short-and long-term dimensions of the crisis, and acknowledges and remedies the effects of the inept federal response.
Marked By Covid is currently focused on securing remembrance, accountability, and an equitable recovery. We are driving bipartisan legislation for a federally-recognized Covid Memorial Day, establishing a permanent National Covid Memorial, and creating a Memorial Matrix to ensure that our loved ones–and the reasons for their needless deaths–are not forgotten. We issued the first call for an investigation of the U.S.’ pandemic response in December 2020, and have generated public support through appearances on top-tier news outlets and ongoing coordination with key-decision-makers. Co-founder Kristin Urquiza co-authored Lessons from the Covid War, which CNN called “the most authoritative account of American policy failures and successes during the war against Covid-19.”
Our origins: Speaking truth to power.
Co-founder Kristin Urquiza’s father died from COVID after trusting Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s claims that “it was safe to resume normal activities” in June, as the state surged with COVID cases and her childhood neighborhood of Maryvale — a low-income community with a large population of immigrants and Latinx residents — recorded some of the worst numbers on the planet. So we invited a reporter to his funeral and published the first of many Honest Obits, which told the unvarnished truth about his death and held public servants like Ducey to account. The story and obituary went viral, and within days, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey was asked about her father at a press conference by a reporter from The Washington Post. A few days later, Trump was seen wearing a mask in public for the first time.