Artist honours New York first responders

New York artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada is nearing completion of a 20,000-foot portrait of Doctor Ydelfonzo Decoo, who lost his life on the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19.

Located in Queens, the large portrait is on the pavement of a parking lot in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, a stones throw from the iconic Unisphere.

Dr. Decoo was a member of the SOMOS Community care network of physicians, an organization that works closely in many of New York's neighborhoods hardest hit by the coronavirus.

"To put a face on the statistics, you know, I mean, to talk about, that every one of those people in those 20, 40 hundred thousand people is a person who loved and laughed and cried and is now being mourned by by loved ones," said Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, an artist frustrated by the impact of the virus on hispanic and minority communities.

"Sometimes you just have to step up and find your own way to mourn when others won't, you know, help you do that. And. So this is actually because becomes like a big altar, you know, for what's happening," Rodriguez-Gerada added.

The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

(Representative Image)(Image Credit Pixabay)