Son’s grief, guilt become tribute honoring COVID-19 victims

NEW YORK (AP) — Brian Walter says he took all precautions to protect his parents from the coronavirus. But the New York City Transit employee had to carry on with his duties at the height of the pandemic because he was deemed an essential worker. He believes he exposed his father to the virus before John Walter died from COVID-19 on May 10, 2020. Survivors wonder whether small decisions they made had catastrophic consequences. Brian Walter has searched for a way to heal by organizing a memorial that pays tribute to his father and hundreds of other victims of COVID-19 in Queens.