President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris made comments at the Lincoln Memorial to honor the victims of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the same day that the national death toll exceeded 400,000.
“To heal, we must remember,” said Biden, with the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial Reflective Lake behind him. “It is sometimes difficult to remember. But this is how we heal.”
It was Biden’s first stop in Washington, after arriving earlier the day before his inauguration on January 20.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a COVID-19 memorial, with lights placed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, January 19, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)
Organizers placed lights around the pool’s perimeter, an unprecedented step, according to the transition team, to honor the victims.
“Between sunset and dusk, we will light up the darkness along the sacred reflection pool and remember everyone we lost,” said Biden.
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Harris, who spoke before the next president, said the event was intended to “honor” the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died of the disease. She said the pandemic should serve as a reminder to celebrate the little things in life.
“Tonight, we suffered and started to heal together,” she said. “Although we may be physically separated, we, the American people, are united in spirit.”
After brief comments, Harris introduced frontline nurse Lori Marie Key to sing “Amazing Grace”.
“If there are angels in heaven, they are all nurses,” said Biden, taking the podium after leaving the stage.
After Biden’s brief remarks, which included a call to remember the dead, came a version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” by gospel singer Yolanda Adams.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, made the invocation.
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Earlier in the day, data from Johns Hopkins University showed that the country exceeded the limit of 400,000 coronavirus-related deaths, just a month after exceeding 300,000.
As one doctor said, one person in 820 died of the disease during the pandemic.
Fox News’ Kayla Rivas and Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.