Half a million dead from COVID-19

The U.S. has recorded its 500,000th death from COVID-19, a number that seemed unfathomable a year ago. The devastating landmark occurs as the national caseload is lightening, leaving public health experts with a critical epidemiological risk—Americans easing off of pandemic restrictions too early. Dr. Anthony Fauci warned yesterday that Americans could be wearing masks into 2022, and leading medical associations are pleading for extended vigilance from people exhausted by months of self-isolating and the punishing economic impact of the worst public health calamity in 100 years.

• — Outpacing the population. Worldwide, the coronavirus has killed more than 2,462,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than a fifth of all deaths globally have occurred in the the U.S., which has less than 5% of the world's population.
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• — Remembering the lost. President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will mark the tragic milestone with a candlelighting ceremony at the White House today. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will also be present.
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• — Signs of hope. On a positive note, new cases are falling sharply across the country, down by a quarter week-on-week. Deaths, a lagging indicator, are also beginning to ease, and the vaccine effort is cranking up, with more than 63 million vaccine doses administered. —CNN

Oaf Keepers

A leader of the Oath Keepers extremist group, who has been charged in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, claims she was given a VIP pass to the pro-Trump rally and had met with Secret Service agents about providing security. The Secret Service denies the claims. Attorneys for Jessica Watkins detail how efforts among paramilitants were closer to Donald Trump and his associates than was previously known. The Justice Department and the FBI are now investigating whether Trump ally Roger Stone and far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones may have played a role in the Capitol breach. —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MORE: Supreme Court won't take up challenge to Pennsylvania presidential election results —The Washington Post

Besaw: Why have elections been so violent?

"Election violence undermines the legitimacy of a country's political system. By reducing voter confidence in peaceful democratic transition, it can eventually result in a shift toward more authoritarian governance. In places that already have authoritarian governments, bloodshed during election season isn't a surprise. Often, it's an organized strategy used to keep votes from being free and fair—part of the broader toolkit that many autocratic leaders use to repress and manipulate the citizenry." —Clayton Besaw on The Conversation

Clayton Besaw is a research affiliate and senior analyst at the University of Central Florida and at the Open Nuclear Network, a non-profit organization that promotes peace and security in post-conflict countries and the mitigation of nuclear weapons proliferation.

MORE: Seven election officials killed in landmine blast as Niger votes —Al Jazeera

'The work continues'

Donald Trump may be happily ensconced at Mar-a-Lago these days, but various prosecutors are still working on cases against him. One of them—Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.—got a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court today. The high court rejected, with no dissents, a last-ditch attempt by Trump to shield his financial records, with a brief, unsigned order requiring his accountants to turn over his tax and other records to Vance's office. Trump's accountants, Mazars USA, have confirmed that they will comply with the ruling, meaning a grand jury should receive the documents in short order. Stay tuned. —The New York Times

MORE: Trump reported making more than $1.6 billion while president —Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Will: The US can't back down on China

"While China screws down the lid of tyranny on Hong Kong—making schools instruments of political indoctrination; removing library books that 'endanger national security'—Beijing continues to add to the (at least) 380 Uighur 're-education' camps. If U.S. transactions—diplomatic and commercial—with China are unaffected by the finding of genocide, this will, in the words of Eugene Kontorovich of George Mason University's Scalia Law School, 'make a joke out of genocide.'" —George Will in The Washington Post

George Will is a conservative political commentator and columnist for The Washington Post.

MORE: Fred Hiatt: If it will put this man in jail, China will stop at nothing —The Washington Post

Focus on Russia

Russia is counting on the COVID-19 pandemic to weaken unity in the West, helping Moscow gain a more prominent role in international affairs and leading to "declining Western influence on the global stage." That's the conclusion of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service in its annual report released last week. The Kremlin thinks the pandemic will force Western nations to focus on domestic policy and economic problems and facilitate the emergence of populist and extremist movements. "Russia is prepared to add fuel to the flames to encourage these trends," the report states. —Associated Press

• — A ruling on Navalny. The European Court of Human Rights—the international court of the Council of Europe, Europe's main human rights forum—ruled last week that the Russian government should immediately release Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny from prison. The court said its decision was motivated by a possible risk to Navalny's life. Russia's justice minister dismissed the ruling as "unlawful" and accused the court of meddling in the Russian judicial system. —Reuters
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• — Appeal rejected. A Moscow court on Saturday rejected Navalny's appeal of his prison sentence. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for violating terms of his probation while convalescing in Germany. Russian news reports say that after losing his appeal, Navalny will likely be sent from Moscow to a prison in the western part of Russia to serve out his sentence. —Associated Press
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• — EU sanctions coming. Undeterred, the European Union is preparing to impose new sanctions against Russia over Navalny's imprisonment. Brussels plans to use, for the first time, its recently established sanctions regime, similar to the U.S.'s Magnitsky Act. The mechanism enables the 27 member states to punish those considered responsible for human rights abuses through the freezing of assets and travel bans. A political decision is expected this week. —EuroNews

Ulloa: Can the GOP recover from Trump?

"Reining [Donald Trump] in—and the conspiratorial ideas he has injected into the mainstream—will be just about impossible, historians and scholars said. Trump is not a sole actor like [former Sen. Joseph] McCarthy, and his ascent has come as many of the John Birchers' ideas have gained new prominence with the rise of conservative talk radio, Fox News, and online right-wing sites such as the Breitbart News Network." —Jazmine Ulloa in The Boston Globe

Jazmine Ulloa covers national politics and the 2020 presidential election for The Boston Globe.

MORE: Trump to speak at CPAC in first public appearance since leaving White House, while Pence declines invitation —CNN

In the Feb. 19 segment of "What's Your Take?", the comment made by Tracy D. from Texas broke my heart. First of all, I'd like to offer my deepest prayers to her and her family and all the Texans going through this disaster. No one, NO ONE, should go through what she has experienced. And then to find out that one of Texas' senators took off for Cancun to have a nice respite from the freezing weather (or was he being a good dad? Or, did he need a rest from the last few months of trying to rip the seams of our government?) while Tracy and others were stuck suffering, must have eaten them alive.

Again, Tracy, I'm so sorry for what you've had to endure and what you're going to be dealing with in the next few weeks. I know this phrase sounds lame and meaningless, having heard it over and over throughout the last four years, but my thoughts and prayers truly ARE with you. Stay strong and safe, my friend. —Sharon C., Michigan

I totally agree with Tracy D. from Texas, because I am a Texan also. We need to change leadership in the next election so hopefully this won't happen again. —Linda S., Texas

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.