Biden leads memorial of Covid-19 victims on eve of inauguration
Reuters/Washington Filed on January 20, 2021
US President-elect Joe Biden and wife Dr Jill Biden attend a Covid-19 Memorial at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. AFP
The commemoration came hours before President Donald Trump was due to depart the White House for the last time
President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday led a national memorial observance on the eve of his inauguration to honour the 400,000 Americans who have perished from Covid-19 during the 11 months since the novel coronavirus claimed its first US life.
The sundown commemoration came hours before President Donald Trump was due to depart the White House for the last time and hand over a country wracked by the greatest public health crisis in a century, economic devastation and violent political upheaval.
Biden s advantage as rising president is something Republicans tried to ridicule in his campaign: His long years of experience with how Washington works.
Clasping lit candles, they gathered outside the King Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus s University District on the eve of a U.S. presidential transition of power.
With the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris just hours away, they spoke nary a word to one another as they looked up toward the door where the speakers stood waiting with microphones.
They weren t there to protest election results they d been told were fraudulent, nor were they there to celebrate the dawn of a new administration. Rather, they had gathered about 30 strong to pray together that the fraught tensions and deep political divisions ravaging the nation would soon heal.