Hours after the US crossed the threshold of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, President Biden celebrated the lives lost last year on Monday night. No other country has lost more lives to the one-year pandemic than the US
“Today, we set a truly dark and moving milestone,” he said in a brief speech at the White House. “500,071 dead. That’s more Americans who died in a year in this pandemic than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.”
Remembrance, said Biden, is an important part of the healing process, both for individuals and for the nation. Just before the event, the president ordered the White House flags to be reduced to half the frame. Candles adorned the steps of the White House residence to the south lawn, while President, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff looked out over the south lawn in a moment of silence.
“This is how you heal – you have to remember,” said Biden. “And it is also important to do this as a nation. Those who have lost loved ones, here’s what I know: they never really left. 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, felt empathy for those who lost loved ones last 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 your hands, looking into your eyes as they escape,” said Biden. “… that cinema where you met. The breakfast you shared together.”
Evan Vucci / AP
The president urged the country to take precautions to prevent further deaths. This is not about politics, he said – it is about neighbors, friends, daughters and sons, husbands and wives.
“We have to fight it as one people. Like the United States of America … the only way to save more pain and more losses, the only way,” he said.
Overall, the number of cases and deaths per day has dropped, and more than 44 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine in a two-dose regimen.
Despite the impressive number of victims of the virus, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, sees reason for optimism in the coming months. On CBS News’s “Face the Nation” show on Sunday, he predicted, “I think we will continue to see infection rates dropping in the spring and summer. Right now, they are dropping dramatically.” Although he does not think the United States will ever obtain “true” collective immunity, because a large percentage of Americans have been infected and an increasing number of people are being vaccinated, the disease is transferring “at a much slower rate”.