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Status: 02/23/2021 4:31 am
The corona pandemic has brought unimaginable suffering to the United States. More than half a million Americans have died from complications from the virus. President Biden remembers the sacrifices and gives hope for better days.
The flag above the White House flies at half mast in the cold winter air, and hundreds of candles on the south side of the building are a reminder of the countless deaths by crown in the US President Joe Biden, the first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff bow to the victims. Head bowed, they observe a minute’s silence on the south side of the White House, hands clasped as if praying. Soon after, a military band played the song “Amazing Grace”.
“Today we mark a truly grim and heartbreaking milestone,” Biden said in a speech the night immediately preceding the commemoration. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States had exceeded the threshold of more than half a million deaths from corona.
More American casualties than in the bloodiest wars
“More Americans died in one year of the pandemic than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined,” Biden said. “They are more lives taken by the virus than any other country in the world.”
However, the president warned Americans not to be blunted by the “unimaginable” number of victims. “We have to fight against becoming deaf to suffering. We have to fight against seeing each life as a statistic,” Biden demanded. “We have to do this to honor the dead. Just as important is caring for the living, those who have been left behind,” Biden said. Each corona death had family, friends, and an “extraordinary life” that ended too soon.
More than 150,000 victims since the beginning of January alone
To commemorate the dead, Biden ordered the flags to be lowered to half-staff across the country. This applies to five days in public buildings, military bases, and US government diplomatic missions abroad. In the House of Representatives, the deputies observed a minute of silence.
The winter months of the pandemic were devastating in the United States. Since the beginning of January alone, more than 150,000 people have died after being infected by the coronavirus. There are currently 28.2 million confirmed infections in the country with around 330 million inhabitants.
Biden puts massive pressure on vaccination campaign
However, recently there has been hope that the situation will improve soon. The number of new infections every day dropped from more than 200,000 in early January to less than 70,000. And the vaccination campaign is also advancing: so far, 44 million people in the United States have received the first vaccine, about 19.4 million people have already received both doses of vaccine, according to data from the CDC.
Biden has been putting massive pressure on the vaccination campaign since taking office a month ago. The United States will now receive about 600 million doses of vaccines from manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer / Biontech by the end of July, which would be enough for all adults in the country. According to some experts, if all goes well and only a small proportion of Americans refuse to be vaccinated, the worst of the pandemic could end in the fall.
“This country will laugh again, this country will have sunny days again. This country will experience joy again,” Biden said confidently. “We will get through this, I promise you.” Biden did not give a specific moment when he expected a return to some normality in the country. However, he is confident that the situation will improve significantly in the second half of the year.
