President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris arrived in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday afternoon, taking part in a solemn ceremony shortly after touching down in the nation’s capital for their inauguration ceremony Wednesday.

What You Need To Know

  • President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris participated in a ceremonial event honoring the people across the country who died due to COVID-19

  • The ceremony took place the same day the U.S. surpassed the grim milestone of over 400,000 U.S. deaths from the coronavirus

  • "For many months, we have grieved by ourselves," Harris said on Tuesday. "Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together."

  • "To heal, we must remember. It’s hard, sometimes, to remember. But that’s how we heal," Biden said. "It's important to do that as a nation."

Biden and Harris, along with their spouses, Dr. Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, participated in a ceremonial event honoring the people across the country who died due to COVID-19 – the day the U.S. surpassed the grim milestone of over 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus. The illumination of over 400 lights on the national mall marked the first-ever lighting ceremony around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. 

In short addresses, Biden and Harris both offered a message of hope to those still mourning the loss of a loved one. The impact of the pandemic was evident in the lead-up to Wednesday’s inauguration, which will not be open to the public in order to mitigate the spread of the virus and to address heightened security concerns. 

“For many months, we have grieved by ourselves,” Harris said on Tuesday. “Tonight, we grieve and begin healing together. Though we may be physically separated, we, the American people, are united in spirit. And my abiding hope, my abiding prayer, is that we emerge from this ordeal with a new wisdom. To cherish simple moments. To imagine new possibilities. And to open our hearts just a little bit more to one another.” 

Biden thanked the frontline workers for the “courage and pain” they must absorb in their jobs, adding: “If there are any angels in heaven, they’re all nurses.”

“To heal, we must remember. It’s hard, sometimes, to remember. But that’s how we heal,” Biden said. “It's important to do that as a nation. That's why we're here today. Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights from the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all whom we lost.”

Biden and Harris were joined by their spouses at the Lincoln Memorial, as well as Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, who delivered the Invocation; singer and nurse Yolanda Adams, who sang the Leonard Cohen anthem "Hallelujah;" and Lori Marie Key, who sang "Amazing Grace."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Leaders also held a moment of silence on the U.S. Capitol steps for the victims of COVID-19.