Jan 18, 2021
As part of a national memorial to remember and honor those Americans who have died of COVID-19, the Oregon Convention Center will be lighted in red, white, and blue Tuesday, January 19.
Multnomah County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson requested the lighting as part of President-elect Joe Biden’s effort to recognize the roughly 400,000 Americans who have now died of COVID. The number of dead will soon surpass the number of Americans killed in all of World War II, making the COVID-19 epidemic the third most deadly tragedy in American history, after the 1918 Influenza outbreak and the U.S. Civil War.
Coronavirus live updates: As US death toll approaches 400K, new variants threaten to add to struggle; Americans trust in vaccines grows John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
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The U.S. on Monday stood on the brink of 400,000 reported coronavirus deaths, almost double the total of the next most severely hit nation and still mourning more than 20,000 deaths per week. The U.S. has added almost 4 million new infections this month, and the emergence of new variants only figures to add to that total.
The U.S. on Monday stood on the brink of 400,000 reported coronavirus deaths, almost double the total of the next most severely hit nation and still mourning more than 20,000 deaths per week. The U.S. has added almost 4 million new infections this month, and the emergence of new variants only figures to add to that total.
The pace of vaccinations is picking up but remains well below the optimistic estimates from public health experts when the first vaccines were authorized last month.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had forecast 20 million first-shot vaccinations in December and another 30 million in January. More than halfway through January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 10.6 million people have received their first shot, less than 2 million the required booster.
Instead of an in-person parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, Bidens inaugural committee on Monday provided details about a virtual “Parade Across America” that will start at 3:15 Wednesday afternoon after Bidens swearing-in.