Ohio mourns as national pandemic toll reaches 1 million deaths

The U.S. is expected to reach a staggering pandemic milestone over the weekend of 1 million recorded deaths caused by COVID-19.

What's happening: President Biden has ordered flags to be flown half-staff through Monday evening in remembrance of those who have died, Axios' Ivana Saric reports.

Zoom in: Ohio's 38,550 COVID deaths, per the state's online dashboard, are equal to nearly the entire population of Westerville.

• More than 95% of victims are adults 50 and older.
• Men account for 46% of cases but 54% of deaths.
• Franklin and Cuyahoga counties, Ohio's most populous, have recorded 2,610 and 3,794 deaths, respectively.

What they're saying: "As a nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow," Biden said yesterday in a statement. "To heal, we must remember. We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible."

Threat level: Deaths from COVID are on the rise again in many states, including Ohio, after several weeks of cases creeping up due to Omicron subvariants, Axios' Tina Reed and Kavya Beheraj report.

• The rates are just a fraction of the figures we saw during Omicron's January peak.

Go deeper: 1 million COVID deaths: Visualizing the scale of loss suffered in America