House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday attended a memorial for the 200,000 lives lost in the U.S. to the coronavirus, saying, "It's just incomprehensible, the situation we find ourselves in."
"This was preventable. Not all of it, but much of it," Pelosi said before a field of 20,000 American flags on the National Mall — one for every 10 lives lost to Covid-19 so far this year.
The memorial in front of the Washington Monument was put together by a group of friends in the Washington, D.C., area who'd raised money online to commemorate the grim milestone, which the U.S. just reached.
About two dozen volunteers began planting the flags on Monday morning, and a similar number of passersby joined into help, organizers said.
Pelosi said the field of flags gives "some perspective on the number of lives that have been lost."
"These flags are indicative not only of the lives lost, but of the families left behind and suffering," Pelosi said.
The California Democrat, who has been a leading critic of the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, vowed last week to keep the House in session until lawmakers reach a deal on Covid-19 relief. She said Tuesday that fewer lives could be lost going forward if people "embrace science over politics."
"If we embrace it, we can save lives," Pelosi said, adding, "It's time for us to crush the virus."
