How Do We Grieve 300,000 Lives Lost?

More than 300,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States.

It is the latest sign of a generational tragedy — one still unfolding in every corner of the country — that leaves in its wake an expanse of grief that cannot be captured in a string of statistics.

"The numbers do not reflect that these were people," says Brian Walter, whose 80-year-old father, John, died from COVID-19. "Everyone lost was a father or a mother, they had kids, they had family, they left people behind."

There is no analogue in recent U.S history to the scale of death brought on by the coronavirus, which now runs unchecked in countless towns, cities and states.

It's equivalent to Sept. 11 happening nearly 100 times. One person now dies every 36 seconds from COVID-19.

"We're seeing some of the most deadly days in American history," says Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.

During the last two weeks, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in the U.S., outpacing even heart disease and cancer.