Biden warns coronavirus to kill over 600,000 in US

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The coronavirus will kill "well over" 600,000 Americans before the pandemic is done, US President Joe Biden warned Friday.

"We're in a national emergency. We need to act like we're in a national emergency," Biden said at the White House. "We've got to move with everything we've got. We've got to do it together. I don't believe Democrats or Republicans are going hungry and losing jobs. I believe Americans are going hungry and losing their jobs. We have the tools to fix it. We have the tools to get through this".

Biden inherited a pandemic raging out of control when he took office Wednesday with the US tallying an excess of 140,000 daily cases since December. Daily deaths meanwhile hit a near all-time high on Wednesday when 4,377 fatalities were recorded by Johns Hopkins University.

The only other time that number was surpassed was about a week ago when 4,462 deaths were tallied Jan. 12. To date, 412,780 COVID-19 fatalities have been recorded in the US since the outbreak began in the country about a year ago.

Biden has issued about a dozen COVID-related executive orders since he assumed office with effects ranging from efforts to build community confidence in vaccination to expanding mask mandates on interstate travel and on all federal property. He is also pushing Congress to act on a $1.9 trillion stimulus package to gird the US economy with unemployment standing around 6.7%.