500K death toll a ‘heartbreaking milestone’: Biden
◦ US VIRUS CASUALTIES MATCH THE TOLL OF 3 WARS ◦ CANDLES LIT AT WHITE HOUSE TO HONOUR COVID DEATHS IN US
The United States on Monday crossed a grim “heartbreaking milestone” in its fight against COVID-19 as the death toll due to the disease crossed 500,000, a staggering figure that is more than the combined American casualties during World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War.
“As a nation, we can’t accept such a cruel fate. We’ve been fighting this pandemic for so long. We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blurb or on the news,” President Joe Biden said on Monday as he led the nation in mourning the dead.
“Today we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone - 500,071 dead,” Biden said at a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House to mark the grim milestone. More than 28.1 million Americans have also been infected - another global record.
He also participated in a moment of silence, standing by 500 lighted candles outside the White House, joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Citing the figure of 500,071 dead in the US, Biden said, “that’s more Americans who’ve died in one year—this pandemic— than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.” “That’s more lives lost to this virus than any other nation on earth. But as we acknowledge the scale of this mass death in America remember each person and the life they lived,” he said.
The US recorded an estimated 405,000 deaths in World War II, 58,000 in the Vietnam War and 36,000 in the Korean War, according to media reports.