Washington: The US coronavirus death toll surpassed 400,000, representing the highest death toll of any country in the world.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris held a memorial for the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial at the National Mall in Washington.
“To heal, we must remember,” the President-elect said. “It is hard sometimes to remember, but that is how we heal. It is important to do that as a nation. That is why we are here today. Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along this sacred pool of reflection and remember all that we have lost.”
Biden and Harris held their first inauguration-related event in Washington on Tuesday night (local time). They were accompanied by their spouses, the incoming first lady and gentleman Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff.
There are 400 lights illuminating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in tribute to the more than 400,000 people who have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in the US, CNN reported.
Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who in November became the first Black American to earn the rank of cardinal, delivered the invocation. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams sang “Hallelujah,” and Lori Marie Key, a Covid-19 ward nurse from Michigan, sang “Amazing Grace.”
