‘A tragic milestone’
US marks one million Covid deaths:
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden yesterday commemorated the Covid19 deaths of one million people in the United States, marking what he called ‘‘a tragic milestone’’ and urging Americans to ‘‘remain vigilant’’ during the ongoing pandemic.
In a statement, Biden acknowledged the impact of the deaths on families left behind and urged the country not to ‘‘grow numb to such sorrow’’.
The United States on Thursday reached more than 1 million Covid19 deaths, a Reuters tally showed, crossing a onceunthinkable milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life.
The loss represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
Most of those deaths, some 600,000, happened after Biden took office in January last year at the peak of a major wave of the disease.
Biden marked the sad occasion by ordering flags to be flown at halfmast.
The administration yesterday also hosted a global Covid summit with other countries to spur international efforts to fight the pandemic.
Biden’s more muted response to the one million deaths contrasts with his commemoration of 500,000 deaths last year, about a month after he took over from former president Donald Trump, who many voters criticised for downplaying Covid’s impacts and bungling the government response.
In February last year, 500 lit candles lined steps at the White House and a military band played Amazing Grace as Biden, his wife Jill, vicepresident Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff bowed their heads in respect for the dead.
Politically, Biden now owns the pandemic in the US.
He ran against Trump on a promise to take it more seriously, and he came into office with a plan to get Americans vaccinated and an attempt to show leadership on maskwearing and mitigation efforts.
The Supreme Court struck down his federal vaccineortest mandate for companies, and a Trumpappointed judge struck down his public transportation mask mandate. — Reuters