LIVE: Biden Marks 500,000 U.S. Covid Deaths With Moment of Silence at the White House

(Feb. 22)A half-million Americans are now dead as a result of the novel coronavirus that first hit U.S. shores just a little more than a year ago, a sad milestone that’s left families mourning nationwide.

U.S. deaths passed the 500,000 mark on Monday. Global deaths related to Covid-19 have surpassed 2.46 million, with the U.S. leading all countries with more than twice the number recorded by the next closest, Brazil, according to Bloomberg’s virus tracker.

Hospitalizations and deaths have fallen since peaking in early January as treatments have improved, a rising number of Americans have gotten natural immunity from surviving the virus, and more people are getting shots of vaccines produced by either Moderna Inc. or the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE team. There’s still a growing threat, though, from swift-moving mutations that have emerged from the U.K., South Africa and Brazil, and are now increasingly seen in the U.S.

“Half a million deaths,” said Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s top infectious disease doctor, on CNN’s “State of the Union” broadcast on Sunday. “It’s terrible. It is historic. We haven’t seen anything even close to this for well over a hundred years since the 1918 pandemic of influenza.”

About 657,000 in the U.S. died during the 1918 influenza pandemic with no vaccines available and no antibiotics to treat secondary infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 50 million died worldwide.

“It’s almost unbelievable,” Fauci said of the latest death toll. “But it’s true.”

In the beginning of March 2020, only three coronavirus-related deaths had been recorded in the U.S. By mid-April, the seven-day average for deaths topped 2,000. There have been more than 88,200 deaths just in the last month.

While less than 1% of the U.S. population lives in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, about 35% of deaths have occurred there as of Feb. 18, according to the Long-Term Care COVID Tracker. The need to isolate residents to protect them from infection came at a high cost as families couldn’t talk with and care for older parents and grandparents, and sometimes left them unable to say goodbye.

Lately, though, there’s been the sense that a turnaround may be possible. Weekly deaths in long-term care centers fell to 4,239 as of Feb. 18 after reaching more than 7,000 a month earlier.

The number of hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients on Feb. 18 fell to the lowest number since Nov. 18, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Still, the overall number remain high at 63,523.

At the same time, more Americans have now received at least one dose of a vaccine than have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. As of Sunday, 63.1 million doses had been given to people in the U.S., a number that leads the world. In the last week, an average of 1.33 million doses a day were administered.

To speed up vaccinations after a rocky start, the U.S. government on Jan. 12 began encouraging states to start immunizing all residents 65 and older, along with those ages 16 and older with certain medical conditions.

The changes would open vaccinations up to more than a third of the U.S. population. The Biden administration has said that it’s working to expand the supply of vaccines to help meet that goal.

By speeding up vaccination, health officials hope to cut off the spread of the mutations emerging from the U.K., South Africa and Brazil, the latter two of which have shown an ability to weaken -- though not yet overcome -- the Pfizer vaccine.

The mutation that emerged from the U.K. has been particularly aggressive, identified in 1,523 cases in 42 states as of Thursday. Federal officials have expressed concern it could soon become dominant nationwide.

The variant from South Africa, first identified in the U.S. on Jan. 28, has now infected 21 Americans in 10 states, according to the CDC, with Idaho joining the list as the 11th on Friday. The mutation that emerged from Brazil is the latest to reach U.S. shores. It’s now been identified in five cases in four states -- Maryland, Florida, Oklahoma and Minnesota.

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[downtownbigcity]

The pro-abortion President suddenly concerned about life.... word

[alexordonez]

100k Americans died under his watch in a month.

[userunknown]

Not wearing a mask again? He does remember HE signed the executive order about that... Right?

[leonards.]

If Trump presented something as spooky as this, the media hounds would be howling. Seems that every day at least one thing happens with Biden that is absolutely unbelievable.

[hekmanx]

Has president garbage visited the people in texas or help by sending basic food and water ???

[bosswomen]

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me besides still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me down paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death,
I fear no evil.
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." Amen A Psalm of David Psalm 23

[Noone-zdlw]

How many of those who died had stage 4 cancer?

[toolmkr]

I wonder how many people died in prison because of his crime bill.

[ludsec]

World War 2: 405K
World War 1: 116k
Vietnam War: 58k
Total: 579k
Covid Deaths: 497k (CDC)
Who is writing his speeches? lol

[Kyle_Lurz]

Did Governor Cuomo give a speech as well?

[vanscoyoc]

A moment of silence is perfect for Biden...no opportunity to say something stupid.

[beardog]

Could you imagine biden without a teleprompter?

[b.a.m]

how is everyone so blind we need to do something

[jrbland]

MY FAMILY LOST 3 FAMILY MEMBERS. MY DAD, GRANDMA, AND STEP BROTHER.
THE GRIEVING IS AWFUL.

[angelclaudio]

Yes, now right. We could’ve had a vaccine in October. But no, stop it. It can help Trump.

[moonszter]

Where’s that stimulus for the ones who are atill living???

[psychedelicunicorn]

Pass legislation to help us the people! Your elite friends and bankers got $3.7Tril!

Where is our help?? $2k? $1400? Universal healthcare during a pandemic?

Come on man!

[EMo-rxpm]

I fell asleep 30 seconds in. Can someone recap this for me?

[robertusa]

I literally have to raise the sound on my PC all the way up to hear what he is talking about..

[skullbonesilluminati]

To be honest. Looks like they are celebrating.