“As a nation, we cannot accept such a cruel fate. We have been fighting this pandemic for so long. We must resist being saddened,” the president said. “We must resist regarding every life as a statistic or a dullness or as news. We must do it to honor the dead but equally important care for the living, those who have left them behind.”
Biden also took part in a moment of silence and stood by 500 lit candles outside the White House, along with First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Mr Doug Emhoff.
A flag on top of the White House and flags at the American Capitol were lowered to half-staff on Monday afternoon.
The pandemic is far from over, as more than 1,200 U.S. deaths were reported Monday.
But Americans can go their own way – and help prevent many more families from suffering inconsolable grief.
Major challenges ahead
“If it takes over, the numbers will start to increase again. There is no end to the death toll there unless we can vaccinate before it.”
Where we stand with vaccinations
But the US will probably be caught in the middle of this week, said dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said.
“Obviously it’s a setback because you want to see the steady stream of vaccine get out there to get into people’s arms, but we can catch up pretty well,” Fauci told NBC on Sunday.
Both vaccines on the US market – developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – require two doses, the second of which must be given 21 days and 28 days after the first dose, respectively.
Fauci told CNN on Sunday that the U.S. is currently working on the vaccination schedule backed by data from clinical trials.
“Science directly points to continuing with what we know … from the clinical trial,” he said.
Good news (for now) about cases and hospitalizations
Nationwide, the rate of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths is declining.
The number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 has dropped for the 40th day in a row, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, daily deaths have decreased by 24% in the past week compared to the previous week.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, earlier Monday pointed out encouraging numbers in the decline in new cases, deaths and hospital admissions, but also issued a warning.
The seven-day average deaths reported each day are the lowest since early December, she said.
At a White House coronavirus task force briefing before the death toll was updated, Walensky noted the declining death toll, but said the total number of deaths in Covid-19 was a tragic reminder of the scale. of this pandemic and the loss it suffers as a result of our personal lives and our communities. While the pandemic is heading in the right direction, there is still a lot of work to be done. ‘
The vast majority of variant cases so far relate to the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK.
“Now is not the time to let your guard down.”
The American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Nurses Association have also pleaded for Americans to help destroy the pandemic.
“With new, more contagious variants of the virus spreading across the US, now is not the time to let your disappointment subside and measure up on the measures we know to prevent further diseases and deaths – to wear masks , to exercise physical distance, and wash hands, ”reads a joint statement.
Why we can also wear masks next winter
Some Americans have found an unexpected advantage in wearing masks in the winter – they protect against cruel cold air, not just coronavirus.
And Americans may be wearing it next winter, when some health experts say Covid-19 could flare up again.
There may be other ways in which everyday life will differ from the past, said Dr Celine Gounder, specialist and epidemiologist.
“I think we’re looking at some new normal. I think the handshake, for example, will probably disappear,” she said.
“I do think that masks would make a lot of sense during the cough / cold / flu season during the winter months. This has clearly isolated the Southeast Asian countries from some of the worst things, and the importance of wearing masks.”
“It is estimated that about 70% of Americans need to be vaccinated before we get immunity with the vaccination,” said Dr. Leana Wen, medical analyst at CNN, said. “This is the point where enough people have the immune protection that the virus will no longer spread.”
And delaying the transmission of coronavirus also hinders the chances of the virus mutating further.
“The evidence was fairly convincing in March or April that uniform wearing of masks would reduce the transmission of this disease,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told Axios on HBO on Sunday.
The politicization of face masks has likely led to many unnecessary deaths, he said.
“A mask is nothing but a life-saving medical aid, and yet it is categorized in all sorts of other ways that were not factual, not scientific and honestly dangerous,” he added. “And I think you can make a case that tens of thousands of people died as a result.”
CNN’s Virginia Langmaid, DJ Judd, Amanda Watts, Jessica Firger, Naomi Thomas and Michael Nedelman contributed to this report.