Biden to mark Covid-19’s next 500,000 deaths with candle lighting ceremony

Biden to mark Covid-19’s next 500,000 deaths with candle lighting ceremony

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The president is planning to make comments and hold a candle lighting ceremony at the White House around sunset on Monday, if the threshold is exceeded, a White House official said. First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will also participate.

The plans for the ceremony underscore the empathic message that Biden has sought to convey to the response to the coronavirus in the United States since taking office last month – a departure from his predecessor. On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the government was working on plans for the president to use his “own voice and platform to remind people whose lives were lost, families who still suffer “.

The day before taking office, Biden, Harris and their spouses performed a dark ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 400,000 lives lost to Covid-19 in the United States at the time.

“To heal, we must remember,” said Biden at the January event. Harris also spoke briefly at the memorial, noting that “for many months, we have suffered for ourselves. Tonight, we have suffered and we have begun healing together.”

His message contrasts with that of former President Donald Trump, who frequently defended his government’s response to the pandemic, but rarely expressed regret for the victims. In September, Trump told Axios on HBO that the Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. “is what it is”.

“They are dying. This is true. And you – are what you are,” said Trump at the time. “But that does not mean that we are not doing everything we can. It is in control as much as you can control.”

While coronavirus cases are decreasing and vaccinations are increasing, the United States is struggling to control the threat posed by new variants. Experts – both inside and outside the White House – are still far from certain that the United States is finally trying to get out of the pandemic, with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, telling CNN on Sunday that it is “possible” Americans will still need to wear masks in 2022 to protect themselves against the coronavirus, even though the United States may reach “a significant degree of normality” by the end of this year.

“This is a race to spread the vaccine broadly and quickly enough to eliminate the chance of spreading even more strains,” said Dr. Bala Hota, an infectious disease specialist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “We are not out of danger yet.”

This story was updated with additional information on Sunday.

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