Three Hundred and Thirty-Eighth Entry, Coronavirus Poetry Diary
written in response to NBC News, May 4: Covid's toll in the U.S. reaches a once unfathomable number, 1 million deaths: "It's an exponential number of other people that are walking around with a small hole in their heart," one widow said.
covid burial
few relatives and yet ...
a mourning dove's call
FYI: YahooNews, May 5: WHO estimates 15 million people have died due to COVID-19 pandemic
The World Health Organization on Thursday released new estimates that show nearly 15 million people in the world have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — or roughly three times more than the number of coronavirus deaths officially reported.
Added: Three Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Entry, written in response to the (recorded) millionth American death in the coronavirus pandemic.
one million
deaths once unfathomable ...
unmasked shoppers
drown out the sound of news
with chatter and laughter
FYI: Democracy Now's May 13 Headline: White House Marks 1 Million U.S. Deaths from COVID-19.
...
President Biden has ordered U.S. flags flown at half-staff, as the
White House marked 1 million deaths from COVID-19 since the first cases
were detected just over two years ago.
President
Joe Biden: “Today we mark a tragic milestone here in the United States:
1 million COVID deaths, 1 million empty chairs around the family dinner
table, each irreplaceable, irreplaceable losses.”
Biden
spoke from a virtual White House summit on the pandemic, where he
called again on Congress to pass funding to combat COVID-19 at home and
around the globe. Biden initially requested $22 billion from Congress in
March — a figure rejected by public health advocates as too small. The
request is now for $10 billion and remains stalled on Capitol Hill.
Meanwhile,
U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise. On Thursday, states
reported over 115,000 new cases — and that’s likely a significant
undercount due to an increase in home testing...
