{"id":114816,"date":"2021-02-23T15:25:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T07:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=114816"},"modified":"2021-02-23T15:25:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T07:25:51","slug":"covid-19-us-in-mourning-over-500000-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=114816","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: US in mourning over 500,000 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/US-in-mourning-over-500000-Covid-deaths-UK-sees-hope.jpg\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/US-in-mourning-over-500000-Covid-deaths-UK-sees-hope.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; President Joe Biden ordered flags<br>lowered to half mast after the United States crossed the<br>\u201cheartbreaking\u201d milestone of 500,000 Covid-19 deaths, while Britain eyed<br>lifting lockdowns in the latest sign of global gains against the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know what it\u2019s like,\u201d an emotional Biden said in a national television<br>address, referring to his own long history of family tragedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI ask all Americans to remember, remember those we lost and those they<br>left behind,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI also ask us to act, to remain vigilant, to say<br>socially distant, to mask up, to get vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill and Vice President Kamala Harris and<br>her husband Doug Emhoff, then stood outside the White House to mark a<br>moment\u2019s silence in front of 500 candles representing the toll \u2014 the highest<br>reported of any country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier, flags were lowered over the White House and at federal buildings<br>nationwide as well as at embassies around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a nation we cannot and must not let this go on,\u201d Biden said, urging<br>unity. \u201cWe have to fight this together as one people, as the United States of<br>America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, who often sought to minimize the<br>disease, Biden has made the pandemic his top priority, simultaneously pushing an aggressive vaccine rollout and making frequent, public shows of empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a strategy that could make or break the Biden presidency, already<br>juggling high-stakes economic challenges and the tense political aftermath of the Trump era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biden has warned that the US toll could still go \u201cwell over\u201d 600,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But signs are also emerging that progress is being made both in the United<br>States and around the world, with infections dropping sharply and vaccine<br>deliveries rising steadily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the dramatic losses in the United States, the trend is also<br>sharply downward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control, said US<br>deaths are at their lowest since December, with a 39 percent drop in the<br>latest seven-day average of new daily cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 61 million people<br>have received at least one shot of vaccine in the United States, with some 18<br>million getting the full two doses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally, the death toll is nearing 2.5 million. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; President Joe Biden ordered flagslowered to half mast after the United States crossed the\u201cheartbreaking\u201d milestone of 500,000 Covid-19 deaths, while Britain eyedlifting lockdowns in the latest sign of global gains against the pandemic. \u201cI know what it\u2019s like,\u201d an emotional Biden said in a national televisionaddress, referring to his own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":114817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114816"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/114817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}