We are so very close.

Please don’t ruin it now. 

COVID-19 is not over yet, but we are closer than we have been in more than a year in returning to some sense of normalcy. 

We are too close to the finish line to let all our endurance and hard work go to waste. 

Don’t give up and give in just yet. 

Things have improved but please know people are still dying in our community. Cases have been increasing across the state once again, with more than 1,000 people testing positive on some days. In fact, Georgia has now suffered about 860,000 cases and 17,000 deaths.

We will not cross the finish line in the race to defeat COVID-19 and its many variants until a much higher percentage of the population is fully vaccinated. 

The pace of vaccinations and, ostensibly, immunity is heartening and gives us all reason to have hope.

We have so much to look forward to. 

We all want to resume life as we knew it. We want to be able to gather in groups, attend indoor community events, dine in restaurants, shop in stores, go to a movie, a concert or a play. We have reason to think we will once again be able to do those things safely, soon — but not just yet. 

The experts have said if we can just hang on until about three quarters of the population have immunity then we can resume so many things we enjoy and that make our lives full and rich. 

Until that time, for just a little while longer, please socially distance, avoid large gatherings, wash your hands frequently, use hand sanitizer and please just wear your protective masks. 

Hang on just a little bit longer. 

Let’s all cross the finish line together. 

Maybe you are fully vaccinated. 

Perhaps many of your friends and neighbors have received one or both of their COVID-19 vaccination shots. 

If you have not yet been vaccinated, it is easy, it is safe, it is effective. 

Please schedule your shot today. 

States are lifting restrictions but that doesn’t mean you have to be careless or less safe. 

It doesn’t mean you should stop looking after your friends and neighbors.

Putting the needs of others before your own whims is just the right, and moral, thing to do. 

We have all made so many sacrifices for so very long, why would we want to give up, give in, let down and ruin it now, just before we cross the finish line?