President Biden spoke solemnly about the past year.

As of Monday afternoon, the COVID-19 pandemic that has been ravaging the entire planet for nearly a year passed a grim new milestone: in the United States alone, there have officially been at least 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Not only is this a shocking statistic for the United States, but one for the world at large, as no other first-world country has recorded so many deaths during the course of the pandemic.

On Monday night, President Joe Biden held a remembrance ceremony in front of the White House, where he was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

“Today, we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone,” Biden said in a brief speech. “500,071 dead. That’s more Americans who died in one year in this pandemic than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.”

Prior to the ceremony, Biden ordered the US flag be lowered to half-staff in honor of those who have been lost, and stressed the importance of never forgetting them. “That’s how you heal — you have to remember,” he said. “And it’s also important to do that as a nation. Those who have lost loved ones, here’s what I know: They’re never truly gone. They’ll always be part of your heart.”

“I know what it’s like to not be there when it happens. I know what it’s like when you are there, holding their hands, looking in to their eyes as they slip away,” Biden added. “…That movie theater where you met. The morning coffee you shared together.”

“We have to fight this as one people. As the United States of America … the only way to spare more pain and more loss, the only way,” he concluded, reminding everyone that we must take all available precautions to ensure no more lives are lost.