Biden to Mourn 500,000 U.S. Covid Deaths With Candle Lighting Ceremony on Monday

By Sarah RumpfFeb 21st, 2021, 9:40 pm
 

Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images.

President Joe Biden plans to honor the half a million American lives lost to Covid-19 with a candle lighting ceremony at the White House, according to a report by CNN. The exact date and time has not yet been announced, but could come as soon as Monday, depending on when the country passes that somber threshold.

White House officials told CNN that the ceremony will be held around sundown on the appropriate day, and First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will join the president, who will also deliver remarks.

Biden, Harris, the First Lady, and the Second Gentleman held a similarly somber ceremony marking 400,000 Covid-19 deaths at the Lincoln Memorial the evening before the Jan. 20th inauguration.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration’s intention was to allow Biden to use his “own voice and platform to take a moment to remember the people whose lives have been lost, the families who are still suffering.”

On Friday, Biden visited a Pfizer vaccine manufacturing facility in Michigan to urge Americans to get the vaccine as soon as they can, and expressed sympathy for those who have lost loved ones to the virus.

Update: The White House confirmed Sunday evening that the ceremony would be at sundown on Monday, and will include a moment of silence.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.