New-York Times Marks Grim US Virus Milestone With Front Page Victim List

AFP / Agustin PAULLIER“The 1,000 people here reflect just one percent of the toll. None were mere numbers,” The New York Times said of its memorial to coronavirus victims

Victims featured by the Times included “Joe Diffie, 62, Nashville, Grammy-winning country music star,” and “Lila A. Fenwick, 87, New York City, first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.”

Also: “Myles Coker, 69, New York City, freed from life in prison,” “Ruth Skapinok, 85, Roseville, Calif., backyard birds were known to eat from her hand,” and “Jordan Driver Haynes, 27, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, generous young man with a delightful grin.”

Marc Lacey, the paper’s national editor, said, “I wanted something that people would look back on in 100 years to understand the toll of what we’re living through.”

The milestone of 100,000 deaths loomed as US states across the country ease lockdown measures.

President Donald Trump, with an eye on his re-election prospects in November, has pressed for a further reopening of the country as job losses mount and the economy slows from coronavirus shutdowns.

“TRANSITION TO GREATNESS,” Trump tweeted Saturday evening, his slogan for the reopening of America.

But many online commentators noted the dissonance between the staggering death toll and Trump’s tweet.

George Conway, a frequent critic of Trump and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted a the newspaper front page — alongside a photo of Trump playing golf on Saturday.

AFP