U.S. President Joe Biden marked the “truly grim, heartbreaking milestone” of 500,000 deaths to COVID-19 in the United States. Speaking at the White House, Biden said the number of lives lost from the pandemic tops the combined death toll from World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War. Biden urged Americans to resist becoming “numb to the sorrow” and “viewing each life as a statistic.” He says the people lost were “extraordinary.” The president also touched on the personal tragedy he’s experienced in losing his first wife and baby daughter in a car collision, and later losing an adult son to brain cancer. Biden told the nation’s he knows it’s hard but that “to heal, we must remember.” He spoke before holding a moment of silence in the White House and inviting the public to join.