It’s not the absolute worst worst-case, but 500,000 dead from COVID-19 is more than what some experts painted as the worst-case scenario back when the pandemic started, and about a third of the way to the death toll if the country had taken no action at all. Today, we’ll do the numbers. Plus: The bond market gains and NASA’s new Martian probe.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“US surpasses 500,000 COVID deaths” from USA Today

Some looks at COVID modeling from The New York Times and New York Magazine

President Biden’s moment of silence at the White House today

“Technology Stocks Drop Amid Rising Bond Yields” from the Wall Street Journal

Zoom etiquette

“Watch new dramatic videos from NASA’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars” from The Verge