Dear Friend,

It’s hard to believe it, but COVID-19 is surging once again across the country and in the Commonwealth. Nationwide, we’re fighting 11.3 million cases and mourning 247,000 deaths and counting. 

In these past two weeks, however, we’ve seen what could be a light at the end of the tunnel with promising early data from two pharmaceutical companies who have been working to develop a vaccine against this virus. Personally, I’ve worked with my colleagues in Congress to secure the additional funding that helped safely accelerate the development of these vaccines and I’m going to continue doing everything possible to support the effort to get a vaccine out to the public as soon as it is safe to do so.

But while we wait for official vaccine approval, we cannot let our guards down. The best way to keep yourself and your community safe against this virus is still to wear a mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands often, and follow all public health guidance.

It’s also crucial that you have the care you need right now – especially since nearly 6 million Americans have lost their health coverage during this economic crisis. So if you or someone you know needs to get covered, there’s no better time to sign up for health insurance than right now. Open enrollment closes after December 15, so don’t delay.

I also encourage Virginians to consider ways to safely celebrate Thanksgiving and the forthcoming holidays, because as these celebrations get closer, so does the cold weather and flu season.

I am confident that we will get through this together. In the meantime, I urge you to visit the COVID-19 updates page on my website for more COVID-19 resources and to see a full list of what I’m doing to fight for Virginians during this time.

And if you want to share your thoughts about an issue that’s important to you, you can send me an email any time using the form on my Senate website. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,