Hours after the US crossed the threshold of 500,000 dead from COVID-19On Monday night, President Biden commemorated the lives lost in the past year. No other country has lost more lives in the year-long pandemic than the US.
“Today we mark a truly stark, heartbreaking milestone,” he said in a short speech at the White House. “500,071 dead. That’s more Americans who died in this pandemic in a year than in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined.”
Remembrance, Mr. Biden said, is an important part of the healing process, both for individuals and for the nation. Shortly before the event, the president lowered the flags at the White House to half the staff. Candles graced the steps of the White House residence to the South Lawn, while the President, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff peered across the South Lawn in a moment of silence.
“That’s how you heal – you have to remember it,” said Mr. Biden. And it is also important to do that as a nation. Those who have lost loved ones, here’s what I know: they’re never really gone. They will always be part of your heart. ‘
The president, who lost his first wife and daughter in a car accident decades ago and whose son Beau died after a battle with cancer in 2015, sympathized with those who have lost loved ones in the past year.
‘I know what it’s like not to be there when it happens. I know what it’s like when you’re there, holding their hands and looking into their eyes as they slip away, ”said Mr. Biden. ‘… That cinema where you met. The morning coffee you shared. ‘
Evan Vucci / AP
The president called on the country to continue to take precautions to avoid more deaths. It’s not about politics, he said – it’s about neighbors, friends, daughters and sons, husbands and wives.
“We have to fight this as one people. If the United States of America … the only way to save more pain and more loss, the only way,” he said.
Overall, the number of cases and deaths per day has gone down, and more than 44 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine on a two-dose regimen.
Despite the dizzying toll the virus takes, former Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb, reasons for optimism in the coming months. On CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, he predicted“I think we will continue to see infection rates fall in the spring and summer. Right now they are falling quite dramatically.” While he doesn’t think the US will ever get “true” herd immunity, because large percentages of Americans are infected and a growing number of people are being vaccinated, the disease is being transmitted “at a much slower rate.”