The country most affected by the coronavirus, the United States has surpassed on this second (22) half a million deaths from the disease – a year after the first recorded victim, in California.
President Joe Biden paid tribute to the dead and ordered flags to remain at half mast in public buildings until next Friday (26).
“As a nation, we must remember the victims so that we can begin to heal, unite and find purpose as a nation to overcome this pandemic,” the Democrat said at the ceremony where the bells of Washington Cathedral rang 500 times. symbolize the 500,000 dead.
“While acknowledging the magnitude of this massive death in the United States, we must remember each person and the life they lived,” said the president, who called on Americans to remain vigilant in the fight against the pandemic – wear masks, maintain social distance and take the vaccine yourself.
Biden and his assistant, Kamala Harris, listened in silence to the performance of the Christian hymn “Amazing Grace”.
The United States has more than 28 million people infected with Covid-19, but case and hospital records are at their lowest since Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.
About 19% of all coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in the United States, even though the country has only 4% of the world’s population.
“These figures are shocking,” said Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease specialist, one of the country’s leading experts. “If you look at the record, we were much worse than any country in the world, and we are a very developed country, a rich country.”