Correspondent Ali Makbul has been speaking to some of the families who have lost loved ones.

Friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in America can now just claim to the memories of happier times.

My father was a really carrying person, and he just wanted to help people.

Um, and he was really outgoing, you know, he thought he was really funny.

Doug Lambrecht was one of the first confirmed deaths back on the first of March, as somebody who lost someone so close, Lemon, who was obviously very, very dear to you.

So early on, when you saw the wave, this was going in the country.

How is it made you feel in the last couple of months?

It's scary.

It's sad.

I feel angry.

We should have been listening to the doctors and the scientists.

Uh, we should not have been listening to, um, people talking about stock market.

It's natural that people are reaching for answers for someone to be accountable after scenes like mass graves being dug in New York and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full way.

Now know that African Americans like Rhoda Hatch is still dying in disproportionate numbers.

I think 100,000 is an extraordinary number.

It means that there's a lot of pain in Greece.

But some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that African Americans were disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also than a push to open up the country that many must think, you know prematurely.

That again suggested devaluation of black lives. Those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount.

And as the nation mourns, flags have most recently been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings.

And even then, it's been difficult to grapple with scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people have been killed.

But how, then, does America even begin to count the emotional cost of such a staggering number of deaths?

To really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes for people left behind, The question lingers could more have been done, so these Americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around.

Alaimo BALL.

BBC News in Washington And I can talk now to Frank Langfitt, who is a correspondent at NPR US National Public Radio.

He joins me now from Weybridge.

Frank.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.

An incredibly grim tally to be talking about 100,000 deaths.

One report has the virus infection rates still going up in approximately 20 states.

What has been the public reaction to news of this figure being passed?

I think it's a huge milestone for the country, and I think it's It has a big impact.

The United States, which before this happened people United States thought that the country was prepared for this sort of thing.

Clearly it was not, and to be not only the country that suffered the most deaths but has crossed this incredible threshold.

I I think it has people reassessing, um, the country's effectiveness at dealing with these sorts of things.

United States is normally very good at dealing with these kinds of disasters and problems, and so I think it's really shaking people all over the country.

This is clearly a public health emergency.

It's also Ah ah, political emergency in some countries, depending on how the public view Ah, particular government, a particular leader has handled the situation clearly.

It's a pressing one for Donald Trump up for re election, he hopes in November.

Aunt, he himself has been talking about this pandemic in terms of his election.

He has, he has created that narrative.

I mean, how do you think his handling off the pandemic and this death toll and it's still on the rise affects his chances for a second term?

I think it will be front and center in the in the final five months of this election race.

As as unusual is it as it is because obviously Joe Biden has hardly been able to go out of the president hasn't gone out much.

But I think that as we get close to November, the big question for people is going to be just What you heard in that earlier report is what more could have been done.

There are reports out of the United States that say, even if the country have locked down a bit earlier, a week or two earlier could have saved maybe tens of thousands of lives.

And I think that the President Trump is gonna have to contend with that.

The other question is gonna be wears the economy, a sui move into October and November and Allen and individual level.

Do people experience this?

Do they know people who have died?

Are they out of work as they prepare to go to the ballot box?

That's gonna be crucial to President Trump's chances to be re elected on President.

Trump has been, you know, repeating the line.

We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.

He's clearly very focused on the economy.

But, you know, if you look back a few weeks, he was talking about the economy opening up at Easter again.

Clearly, that didn't happen.

It was much, much too early.

So do you think in the remaining months between now and November that we are going to see, perhaps more so than ever before, a really bitterly fought campaign, you know, with with lots of blame being flung around?

I think so.

And I think if you if you are on the democratic side, you know the kinds of commercials you're going to run because Donald Trump, because he's out there so much he since January 1st for a long time downplaying this.

Now it's 100,000 dad, over 40 million Americans out of work.

You can just imagine it's very easy to figure out what kind of campaign that the Democrats will run against him.

Ah, he will push to get the economy into recovery as soon as possible, and that could help him.

On the other hand, you know, even though we've seen good things out of stock market, the stock market is not the American economy, and it takes a long time for jobs to come back after such a deep recession like this.

So I think anybody else honestly, at this point, any other candidate incumbent, it would be very hard to imagine they could win reelection.

On the other hand, Donald Trump is he's proved over and over again, is a unique president in modern American history.

Yes, and clearly some of his supporters are utterly devoted to him.

They absolutely believe in this, you know, make America great again slogan but unit with with the with the economy in trouble as economies around the world are in the wake of this pandemic and still during this pandemic, you know, for those voters who might be persuaded to change their minds, you know, how much is this pandemic going to shift?

Thinking away from Donald Trump and towards Joe Biden?

I think that's a great question.

The Nida I think there are very few people for these two men to fight over.

Most Americans know Donald Trump very, very well, and I think it is going to come down to the economy and to personal experience with this endemic.

If if Joe Biden is gonna win every any other people over, it's going to be because people have lost eight.

This supports have lost faith in him.

Donald Trump bring back the economy or because they know people who have lost their lives and they feel the President reserve deserves some responsibility for that.

Okay, Frank, good to talk to you.

Frank Langfitt, correspondent for National Public Radio US National Public Radio.

Thank you very much.