White House Ceremony Remembers 500,000 Lives Lost to COVID-19 In US

On Monday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held a moment of silence for Americans who have died from COVID-19 after the United States reached 500,000 deaths from the virus this week. Biden and Harris, along with First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, looked over 500 candles lit on the South Lawn of the White House as a Marine Corps band played "Amazing Grace." In a brief address to the nation, Biden acknowledged that the number of "Americans who have died in one year in this pandemic is more than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined," and more lives lost to the virus than any other country. “[As] we acknowledge the scale of this mass death in America, we remember each person and the life they lived,” Biden said, sharing his personal experiences with grief. "It's also important to do that as a nation. Those who have lost loved ones, here's what I know: They're never truly gone. They'll always be part of your heart." The number comes more than a year after the first case of COVID-19 was announced stateside on Jan. 21; John Hopkins estimates there have been more than 28 million infections in the nation. The ceremony received coverage across the political spectrum. Some outlets from the left and center compared Biden's response to former President Donald Trump's attempts to "downplay" the scale of the pandemic.