(CNN) The United States will within hours record its unfathomable 500,000th death from Covid-19 paradoxically at a moment of rare hope in the pandemic. The symbolic power of the half a million figure emphasizes the horror of the nightmare that seized the country a year ago. "It's terrible, it's really horrible," Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases specialist, told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." The shifting dynamics will cause a growing political headache for the President if he seeks a deliberate pace to reopening. Three influential medical associations on Sunday issued a warning that despite signs of hope, the challenges from Covid-19 remain serious.

Source: CNN February 22, 2021 05:03 UTC