Tonight I am mourning the loss of 100,000 members of our families and communities. Each of those people had a biography. Wild adventures, funny anecdotes, selfless sacrifices, vices, heartbreaks. They will be missed and their memories will be cherished by those who loved them. 1/
This pandemic will live in the history books as one of the worst public health crises ever. Nearly a third of recorded deaths worldwide are in the United States. The scale of our disaster is staggering, and we are still in the midst. 2/
I remember after 9/11 the painful, sorrowful, beautiful, unifying national remembrances. Covid victims deserve that too. My fear is that we will rush to “get past” the pandemic. That we will never stop to collectively mourn those lost. 3/
We owe it to them to stay focused and resolve to take the steps needed to prevent more loss. I wrote a few weeks ago about how we need to summon the will to move mountains, like we have done time and again to defeat great public health challenges. 4/
It’s not too late. That option is still open to us. We’ve done hard things before. We can do this too. 5/5
