Dear John,

It's been one year since the deadly COVID-19 virus shut down much of our nation, and what a devastating year it has been. We've lost family, friends, and other loved ones to the virus -- more than 525,000 Americans, including nearly 1,500 Delawareans, died as a result of the pandemic.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Small businesses closed. Schools went online, disconnecting millions of kids from their teachers, classmates, and support systems. Many older Americans lived in near isolation. Frontline workers, including medical workers, grocery store clerks, bus drivers, food processors, and others, went to work worried that they would be exposed and expose their families in the process.

All of this would have been hard enough with the best leader in the White House, but tragically America had one of the worst for the first ten months of this crisis. Instead of bringing Americans together to fight COVID-19, President Trump divided us and undermined the virus.

But the strength of the American spirit persisted, and even in the darkness we found light. We found it in the brave frontline workers who put their lives on the line to keep our country running, in the teachers who found new and creative ways to keep their students learning, in the scientists who worked overtime to develop a vaccine.

Now, with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris leading our country, we meet this one year anniversary finally being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Biden-Harris administration has sped up funding for production and distribution so that every American will have access to the COVID-19 vaccine by May. They've implemented common sense public health measures to slow the spread of the virus, and President Biden just signed their American Rescue Plan into law so we can build our country back better.

Help is here, John. It's been a long and difficult year, and I know you've all made tremendous sacrifices. Let me assure you that they haven't been in vain; your sacrifices have brought us nearer to the end of this terrible crisis.

Finally, to those of you who have lost a loved one, please allow me to convey my deepest sympathies. May their memories bring you comfort, and may we all heal as we move forward together.

Thank you,

Chris