Pandemic Reshapes 9/11 Anniversary Commemorations

The New York Times: New York City Marks 9/11 At A Time Of Harrowing Loss 
It has been 19 years since passenger jets hijacked by terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost, some 2,700 of them in New York, in the deadliest attack in the country’s history, a blow to America’s psyche. Now, the United States confronts a far deadlier calamity. During the coronavirus pandemic, the United States has exceeded the death toll of Sept. 11, 2001, by many orders of magnitude. In New York City alone, more than 23,000 people have died of the virus. (Gold, 9/11)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Trump, Biden To Visit Flight 93 Memorial As Pandemic Alters How Nation Honors 9/11 Anniversary
In Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, at the Flight 93 National Memorial, what’s traditionally been a 90-minute ceremony with several speakers, routine musical interludes and hundreds of crowd members from the general public will, on Friday, be an intimate 20-minute affair closed to the public. “At the request of the Families of Flight 93, and in order to adhere to public health guidelines, this year’s observance will be held privately,” a notice on the memorial’s website reads. (Routh, 9/11)

CNBC: U.S. Remembers The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks As The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions
Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths. In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances Friday, one at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner. The Pentagon’s observance will be so restricted that not even victims’ families can attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day.Trump and Biden are both headed — at different times — to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (9/11)

McClatchy: Blue Light Tower To Mark Scaled-Back Pentagon 9/11 Ceremony 
A tower of 308,000 watts of blue light will pierce the sky over the Pentagon starting Wednesday night in commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, one of many changes that will mark the annual somber remembrance, scaled back this year due to the pandemic. A significantly reduced ceremony at the Pentagon will still include the large flag unfurling at the site of impact at sunrise on Friday. (Copp, 9/10)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Sept. 11 Marks 6 Months Since WHO Declared Coronavirus A Pandemic
Besides marking the 19th remembrance of the nation’s deadliest terror attacks, Sept. 11 will also mark six months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. Two days later, on March 13, the U.S. declared a national emergency over the COVID-19 outbreak. Since then, more than 27 million cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 905,000 have died from COVID-19, Johns Hopkins reported. (Darnell, 9/10)

How 9/11's first responders are helping out in the pandemic —

The Wall Street Journal: 9/11 Responders Give Assist To Coronavirus Essential Workers 
John Feal has spent much of the past 19 years advocating for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and for Ground Zero workers, including successfully lobbying Congress alongside the comedian Jon Stewart for billions of dollars in support. But in 2020, Mr. Feal, himself severely injured as a demolition supervisor at the World Trade Center site, has been focusing much of his charitable attention on the new coronavirus pandemic. Through his FealGood Foundation, he has provided $50,000 of personal protective equipment to police and fire stations, among other places, in the New York metropolitan area. A 53-year-old resident of Nesconset, a hamlet on Long Island, Mr. Feal said the pandemic is an event that deserves the same spirit of goodwill as that which followed the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. (Passy, 9/10)

WUSA9: 19 Years Later: Pentagon 9/11 Survivor Helps Fight Pandemic
Nineteen years after the devastating 9/11 attacks, Dr. Veena Railan can still remember distinct details of that Tuesday morning in 2001. "It was a beautiful morning. That’s something I never forget," she recalls. "It was beautiful sunshine, fall was just coming. It was green and gorgeous.” Dr. Railan worked inside the Pentagon as a medical officer at the facility's clinic. ... Almost two decades after the tragedy, Dr. Railan now serves on the front lines fighting the pandemic as a member of the Department of Defense. During the spread of coronavirus this year, she has helped organize public health education efforts and advised others on how to prevent getting the disease. (Dempsey, 9/10)

AP: Connecticut Holds Socially Distant Sept. 11 Ceremony
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont praised health care and other essential workers Thursday by comparing the jobs they are doing during the COVID-19 pandemic to the heroism of first responders who put themselves in harms way after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Lamont spoke at Sherwood Island State Park during a socially distanced ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of 9/11. (9/11)