The COVID-19 pandemic will prevent live personal tributes by the families of 9/11 victims during the ceremony in New York City marking the 19th anniversary of the attacks.
Recorded name readings from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's "In Memoriam" exhibit will be done in place of family members reading the names of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the tragedy, the museum stated in a letter sent to families last week, according to Spectrum News NY1. The readings have been a powerful part of past 9/11 anniversaries and have included personal messages, which will be absent this year.
The museum said in the letter that it was exercising an "abundance of caution" in trying to keep victims' families and other attendees safe at the ceremony, Spectrum News reports.
Besides the recorded name readings, the 2020 ceremony will be similar to past events, including six moments of silence to be held to mark when the World Trade Center towers were attacked and fell; when the Pentagon was attacked; and when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed. Family members will still be able to attend the ceremony on the memorial plaza in Manhattan, but they must wear masks and adhere to social distancing and other requirements.
"If they didn't have it this year, it would give them maybe license to never have it again, which I think would be a terrible thing," Jim McCaffrey, whose brother-in-law was an FDNY battalion chief who died when the South Tower collapsed, told Spectrum News.
