Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee that sets national health policy, reflected today on the somber milestone of the United States reaching one million COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic just over two years ago in March 2020. On Wednesday, the United States surpassed one million deaths attributable to COVID-19.
“In just over two years, we have lost one million Americans to COVID-19. These were our friends, our family, our neighbors, and our colleagues,” said Sen. Menendez. “Today, we pause and reflect on each person lost to COVID and all those who won’t be able to hug their mother this Sunday, joke with their dads in June, or celebrate each of special moment with their loved one. Their loss is our nation’s loss and we will not let it be in vain.”
“While we reflect on this unfathomable loss, we remain committed in our resolve to never let our nation face another pandemic unprepared and we will turn our pain into purpose,” the Senator added.
Last week, Sen. Menendez joined with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and author of the PREVENT Pandemics Act in honoring the 1 million Americans who have died from COVID-19. They also urged their colleagues to pass the emergency COVID funding package and called for a Senate vote on their bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act (S. 3799) to improve the nation’s pandemic preparedness. Joining the Senators were a network of COVID survivor groups, representing more than 350,000 COVID activists, as part of their National Week of COVID Remembrance and Action.
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While drawing attention to the tragic milestone of 1 million U.S. COVID deaths, the Senators continued to push for critical emergency COVID funding. It is important to note that more Americans have died from COVID-19 than in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and 9/11 combined. At the same time, long-COVID symptoms affect as many as 23 million Americans with at least 1 million experiencing debilitating health consequences.
The PREVENT Pandemics Act, which Sen. Murray passed out of the HELP committee by a wide bipartisan margin on March 15, addresses factors that hindered the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The law would strengthen federal and state preparedness, improve public health response capacity, accelerate research, and combat shortages of lifesaving medical supplies. This legislation includes a provision modeled after Sen. Menendez’s National Coronavirus Commission Act that would create an independent COVID Task Force.