Here's a little pep talk for those experiencing Pandemic Fa…

Help is on the way. We have an amazing, miraculous scientific advancement -- a vaccine that is helping us return to normal. We just need to hold on a little longer, get our vaccines, and continue to follow safety protocols. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I promise you.

To those who’ve been distancing & masking from early on, those who’ve skipped in-person holidays and Super Bowl parties, and those who’ve not hugged their loved ones outside of their immediate household, we hear you, and we’re begging you to hang in there. I know how hard it is.

Look, we were all let down by the previous administration. Hell, my profession was directly attacked & accused of somehow profiting off of a pandemic. Over 3000 healthcare workers have died trying to take care of others over the last year. We’re literally “all in this together.”

But the strength of togetherness is tempered by its weakness. If too many of us skirt the guidelines; if we decide to gather “just this once”; if we unnecessarily travel because we’re just tired of staying in one place... we all suffer. We can do this.

Think of the nearly 1/2 Million Americans who aren’t here to be with their families this year. The millions who are grieving the loss of their loved ones. Think of how lucky we are that real leadership has arrived in DC, and that empathy leads in the US once again. Help is here.

Think of the promise of vaccines in the arms of every American in the next 6 months. Do you really want to be the cause of an outbreak that kills one more person? Do you want to spread #COVID19 to someone you love before they get their vaccine? Please hold on just a little longer

The more we spread, the more the myriad variants can take hold & further mutate. The more they mutate, the more likely that a strain arrives that evades our vaccines. It’s a race: Vaccines vs. Variants. And at 2M doses/day we are winning the race! Your efforts are not for naught.

We know it's a lot to ask, but we owe it to those who we’ve lost. We owe it to front-line workers who’ve kept our grocery shelves full, our public transportation moving & our society from crumbling. We owe it to those we love and to those we’ll never meet.

And selfishly, we owe it to ourselves. Some have lost so much, and some have come through intact, but nearly everyone who has done their part has given up something. We don't want to abandon ship at this crucial moment so that all our sacrifice will have been done in vain.

I know some who are fatigued have bucked the public health recommendations from the beginning, aided and abetted by the former President. They’ve made life more difficult for us all. To them, I have little to say.

But to everyone else: hold on just a few more months. A half of a year. Just keep masking up & distancing. Six months from now, every American who wants the vaccine will have gotten it. That is our light. That is our path. That’s why it's worth it. Thank you. *You* are patriots.