This week, you may or may not have noticed that the two American flags near the Abington Middle School and High School were flown at half-staff; they were not raised to the top of their poles.

You may have also heard that the United States has recently surpassed 500,000 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.

To pay respects to the people who make up this once-unimaginable loss, Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker has ordered that the United States of America Flag in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be flown at half-staff at all state buildings, including the public schools.

This memorial began last Monday and will continue until sunset tonight on Friday, February 26, 2021.

Governor Baker’s order is in accordance with President Biden’s order to lower all flags on federal buildings across the country to half-staff for five days.

No matter how far America is down the path to normalcy, we must acknowledge that the death toll is still rising. It does not just represent individual losses to individual families; it represents a loss to our entire society.

Students and faculty at Abington High School are still taking measures to sanitize the building and keep each other safe. As we work to ensure that COVID-19 will no longer spread across the school, these flags remind us of the unfortunate lives we lost in the process.