Speaker Pelosi marks 400K COVID deaths at Capitol

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a few other House members walked out onto the Capitol Steps Tuesday to remember the 400,000 Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19.

The moment with Pelosi was among many planned across the U.S., including President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

The 400,000-death toll, reported Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of New Orleans, Cleveland or Tampa, Florida.

It's nearly equal to the number of American lives lost annually to strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, flu and pneumonia combined.

With more than 4,000 deaths recorded on some recent days - the most since the pandemic began - the toll by week's end will probably surpass the number of Americans killed in World War II.

(Image Credit: AP)