Thousands line up to pay respects to Lewis despite heat and Covid precautions

Rep. John Lewis is now receiving that honor -- but because of the coronavirus, some things are different.

As Lewis' body sits atop the main steps of the US Capitol's East Front, thousands have been streaming by. But officials have taken the unprecedented step of placing the body outside at the top of the steps, further removing the body from the public. Capitol officials painted on the street yellow markings so people could socially distance as they waited. In the past, there were physical visitors' books the public could sign. For Lewis, there is a digital visitors book.

All of this is being done under some of the hottest days of the year, with the temperature still in the 90s Monday evening and a heat warning for the District of Columbia already being put in place at 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

Lewis, who served as the US representative for Georgia's 5th Congressional District for more than three decades, was widely seen as a moral conscience of Congress because of his decades-long embodiment of the nonviolent fight for civil rights. He died at the age of 80 earlier this month following a six-month battle with cancer, a loss that sparked an outpouring of grief and tributes to his life and legacy across the country.

People of all races and ages and backgrounds -- sometimes waiting hours -- began to pay tribute to Lewis in person shortly before 7 p.m. Monday evening.

"Sixty years ago we met. Sixty years of memories. We honor him today because though we beat and jail marchers when they make demands, we honor martyrs when they can no longer speak," the Rev. Jesse Jackson told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. "We must honor John Lewis by completing the work for which he gave his life. We must pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill without delay."

In line were those of Lewis' generation and older, families with young children and many others from a cross-section of America brought together by Lewis' decades of activism, commitment until the end to push for a better society, vow to fight in a nonviolent manner and his complete determination not to waver from his beliefs.

Helen Jones, from Washington, DC, participated in the 1963 March on Washington, where Lewis was the youngest speaker at the Lincoln Memorial event. When asked why she came, she said, "because I was supposed to ... because of what he did."

She said his actions were what God wanted him to do. He didn't do them just to help African Americans, but everyone, she said.

Tawanna Harley on Tuesday morning brought her 7-year-old granddaughter so she could learn about Lewis and what he had done for her generation and coming generations.

"It is her duty," she said of her granddaughter, to see what Lewis "lived and died for."