On the evening before he was sworn in as President of the United States, Joe Biden attended a ceremony to commemorate the 400,000 Americans who died of coronavirus infection.
The death toll from the coronavirus rose to more than 400,000 on Tuesday, 11 months after the first death in the United States. A state memorial service was organized in the evening to pay homage to them. When the ceremony began, there were only a few hours left before US President Donald Trump left the White House. He is handing over to Biden's next administration a state plagued by an unprecedented public health crisis, economically disrupted and politically divided.
The memorial service at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, led by Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, was the first time the US federal government has paid tribute to the huge population that died of the coronavirus.
In the capital as well as in various cities in the United States, those Americans who were lost in the epidemic are similarly remembered.
Initiating the commemoration ceremony, Biden said, "We need to remember this wound to dry. This memory of pain is sometimes very difficult. But this is how we recover. It is important for us as a nation to remember them. ” As Biden spoke, 400 lamps were lit on the shores of Lake Lincoln Memorial in memory of the four million people. Then gospel singer Yolanda Adams sang 'Hallelujah'. Then some time of silence.
Before Biden came to speak, Lori Marie, a nurse at a Michigan hospital, sang "Amazing Grace." At the end of Biden's speech, the National Cathedral bell rang four times four miles away. "Death may have physically separated them from us, but in consciousness, we, these Americans, are all in the same place," Harry said in her speech before the Lori Marie Kerr song.
"My prayer is that we will overcome this crisis with new learning, that learning will value even the smallest moments, learn to think of new possibilities, and open our hearts a little more to each other."