President Biden Orders Flags Lowered to Honor 500,000 Americans Lost to COVID-19

As of this week, more than 500,000 Americans have now died from the virus. That is more Americans who have died in a single year of this pandemic than in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined.

“Each day, I receive a small card in my pocket that I carry with me in my schedule,” said President Biden. “It shows the number of Americans who have been infected by or died from COVID-19. Today, we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone: 500,071 dead.”

On Monday, he remembered them by observing a moment of silence.

The President said on Monday, “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.  They spanned generations.  Born in America.  Immigrated to America.  But just like that, so many of them took final breath alone in America.”

He ordered that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset February 26, 2021.