President Joe Biden marked the one-millionth death in the United States from COVID-19 on Thursday, calling it a “tragic milestone” and encouraging Americans to “stay alert” in the face of the continuing pandemic, Reuters reported.
Biden noted the effect of the death on the families left behind in a statement, urging the country not to “become numb to such pain,” adding that “a nation forever transformed.”
According to a Reuters calculation, more than 1 million COVID-19 fatalities were documented in the United States on Wednesday, marking a once-unthinkable milestone just two years after the first instances rocked society. The death rate is around one in every 327 Americans, which is higher than the population of San Francisco or Seattle.
According to the White House, Biden will recognize the somber occasion by ordering flags to be flown at half-staff, and a second worldwide COVID Summit will be held on Thursday.
The Democratic president has asked Congress for billions more in COVID money to keep combating the virus as new versions emerge, but the request was dissociated from unrelated Ukraine aid that is expected to approve in the coming days.
Although US legislators secured a $10 billion agreement, the additional financing tranche has been postponed due to numerous concerns.
As the virus continues to evolve, scientists are working on a new booster injection, and health experts say more pandemic funding is required immediately to prevent future outbreaks that might wreak even more harm.
The pandemic’s exact toll may never be known. Some persons who died while afflicted were never tested and are therefore not included in the statistics. Others who had COVID-19 but died for a different reason, such as cancer, were nonetheless counted.
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