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On Monday night, US President Joe Biden commemorated the lives lost over the past year. The move came hours after the United States crossed the threshold of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. Biden delivered his words during a brief speech at the White House. He said, “Today, we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone, 500,071 dead. That’s more Americans who died in one year in this pandemic than in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined”. Biden said Remembrance is an important part of the healing process both for individuals and for the nation. President ordered the flags at the White House lowered to half staff shortly before the event. Candles graced the steps from the White House residence to the South Lawn. The US 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.

President Biden said, “That’s how you heal, you have to remember and it’s also important to do that as a nation. For those who have lost loved ones, here’s what I know: They’re never truly gone. They’ll always be part of your heart”. Point to be noted that Biden lost his first wife and daughter in a car crash decades ago, and his son Beau died after battling cancer in 2015. The President added, “I know what it’s like to not be there when it happens. I know what it’s like when you are there, holding their hands, looking into their eyes as they slip away, that movie theater where you met. The morning coffee you shared together”. He called on the country to press forward in taking precautions to prevent more deaths. It’s not about politics; it’s about neighbors, friends, daughters and sons, husbands, and wives.

Biden added, “We have to fight this as one people as the United States of America, the only way to spare more pain and more loss, the only way”. It is noteworthy that Overall, the number of cases and of deaths per day has been dropping. More than 44 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose in a two-dose regimen. Former Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb pointed out reasons for optimism in the months ahead, in spite of the staggering toll taken by the coronavirus. On Sunday, he predicted and said, “I think we’re going to continue to see infection rates decline into the spring and the summer. Right now, they’re falling quite dramatically”. However, he doesn’t think the US will ever obtain True herd immunity.