Biden Holds Memorial As U.S. Reaches 500,000 COVID Deaths: Watch

WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden will mark the milestone of 500,000 Americans killed by the coronavirus with a somber candle-lighting ceremony Monday evening at the White House.

First lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will join Biden outside the White House South Portico at sunset for the ceremony, which will include a moment of silence for the victims of COVID-19.

The president is expected to deliver brief remarks before the ceremony.

To remember those who have died of the disease, Biden also plans to order flags flown at half-staff on all federal properties for five days.

The memorial is held a little over a month after the first and second couples marked the 400,000-death milestone in a sunset ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial on the eve of Inauguration Day.

"To heal, we must remember, and it’s hard sometimes to remember, but that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation. That’s why we’re here today. Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection, and remember all whom we lost," still President-elect Biden said at the Jan. 19 ceremony.