US honors American lives lost to COVID-19: Photos

On the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration as president of the United States, he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris participated in a national memorial at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19.

The inaugural committee encouraged Americans to join in the memorial by lighting candles in their windows and ringing bells. The event, billed as “A National Moment of Unity and Remembrance,” included the first-ever lighting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in memory of the lives lost. Leaders across the country were asked to light up city buildings in amber and ring church bells.

The 400,000 American deaths due to the coronavirus are greater than the number of U.S. soldiers that died in battle during World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined, an analysis of data compiled by the Department of Veterans Affairs shows. Tragically, the U.S. leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases and the number of deaths.

"To heal, we must remember," Biden told the country. "It's hard sometimes to remember, but that's how we heal. It's important to do that as a nation."