Jessica Alejandro's grandfather, Joseph Anthony Szalkiewicz, was one of nearly 41,000 lives in the city cut short by COVID-19.

"He actually called me to let me know he was sick. At the time, he just had a little sniffle, light cough. It wasn't anything crazy,” Alejandro said. "From diagnosis to passing was 14 days.”

With hospitals locked down, Alejandro and her family said goodbye to their loved one over FaceTime.

"To this day, all of us within the COVID community — not only my family and I — are still significantly grieving,” Alejandro said. “We can never forget it because of how horrific it was, and it’s a part of this history."

Health officials say the pandemic resulted in one of the largest losses of life in city history, ranking only behind the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

That has families questioning why, to this date, there is still no citywide memorial.

"My sister and I reached out in 2022. We had a joint letter sent to Mayor [Eric] Adams,” Alejandro said. "We explained that we felt it was imperative to have a permanent memorial in the city to commemorate the lives lost.”

A couple of months later, they received a response.

"I am so sorry to learn of your personal loss," the note reads. “While recognizing the deep well of grief suffered by many... it would seem premature to advance such a proposal given the ongoing nature of the pandemic and our shifting and complex reactions to it.”

Parks Department guidelines call for a period of at least five years before considering permanent memorials. The Public Design Commission, which oversees permanent installations on city land, recommends 20 years.

Alejandro and her family decided to raise the issue at the state level.

“Jessica Alejandro came up to me because I spoke about my mother-in-law passing in the early stages of COVID,” said state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester. “She just spoke to me, saying, 'Sorry for your loss.' But we have a community of people who are never letting people forget what we've lost."

Senate Bill S5269 calls for the creation of a permanent fund to finance memorials statewide. Last year, it passed unanimously in the state Senate. It is currently in committee in the Assembly.

"We have memorials to remind us of things all the time. This should be something you have in every municipality,” Bailey said. "This is not a partisan issue. This is not upstate, downstate. This is not red, blue, Democrat, Republican, rural, urban. Whatever it is, this is a human issue."

Over the last five years, there have been tributes recognizing the magnitude of the crisis. In 2020, the faces of victims and frontline and essential workers were projected on the Brooklyn Bridge during a city remembrance ceremony.

In 2021, the Department of Sanitation unveiled a sculpture, "Forever Strongest," to honor fallen members of the department. In 2022, Queens College became the first college in the state to hold a yellow heart memorial.

Alejandro and her sister, both students at the time, spearheaded the effort. A year later, the college constructed a permanent memorial.

"Queens College led the way,” Alejandro said.

“We're trying to use our grief to not only ensure that my papa's memory is not forgotten, but that all of our COVID angels across New York City and New York state are not forgotten,” she added.