President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff on Monday evening at sunset held a moment of silence at a candle-lighting ceremony to honor the 500,000 Americans who have now died from the coronavirus.
The stairs at the South Portico of the White House were filled with candles in memory of those who have died.
Minutes earlier President Biden delivered a short speech meant to comfort those grieving the loss of a loved one to COVID-19.
“We often hear people described as ordinary Americans. There’s no such thing. There’s nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary,” President Biden said.
Biden mourned the lives lost, acknowledging that so many of the “took their final breath alone.”
“I know it’s hard, I remember. That’s how you heal, you have to remember.”
He also said they are never “truly gone” because they “have become part of your heart.”
“We have to fight this together, as one people, as the united states of America,” he said, stressing “united.”
“This nation will know joy again,” he said. “We will get through this, I promise you.”