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COVID dominated 2020, but it did not define us.
Letter from the Editor Dear Reader,
The rollout of two COVID vaccines to the American people is a triumph of medical science, and the bright ray of hope that we all needed heading into 2021.
In the past two weeks, MLive has chronicled the distribution of the first FDA-approved vaccine from Michigan’s very own Pfizer pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Portage. We’ve shown you the hope that these vaccines can provide us through the cheers of health-care workers who were the first to receive the doses.
On Dec. 17, nurse Abigail Wheeler received the first shot administered at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.
“Dealing with all the loss has been hard,” she said. “I’ve seen more people die this year than I have my whole career. That’s been very, very hard, especially for families who can’t say goodbye in person, and they don’t have that closure.”
Fellow nurse Kelly Houlihan threw his hands in the air in triumph after receiving his shot. “I’m looking forward to this being the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” he said. Well said: The beginning of the end. We have persevered and sacrificed for nine months as the coronavirus raged across our country and changed the way we live, and in more than 320,000 instances, died.
All along the way, MLive has chronicled the toll of the disease on families, on businesses, and on front-line workers. Often, those have been sad or harrowing stories. But we’ve also made sure to show you how this crisis has brought the best out of people.
In the early months of surging cases, MLive launched Powering Positivity, a campaign to highlight good news and success stories coming out of the fight against the coronavirus. You can read those stories by clicking here. We also organized Come Together, a week of Facebook Live benefit shows to support the Michigan hospitality industry.
And in communities across the state, our reporters told stories of courage, of resolve, or even just about people staying positive in a sea of hard times. Like how the family of a Portage nurse turned her fence row into a collage of encouraging messages. Or about the Grand Rapids man recovering from a massive stroke who used Christmas light displays as a form of therapy.
We told about how a Michigan family that lost everything in the devastating Sanford flood in May has reasons to celebrate at year’s end. And how a couple walked away from high-powered careers to become innkeepers in a Lake Michigan shoreside community.
COVID dominated 2020, but it did not define us. How we held up ultimately did.
The virus is still among us, and health officials are pleading with us to hold on, and hang in there. The vaccine is no longer a promise, it’s a reality. And while the true end of this pandemic may be many months off, we now have something tangible to hang our hope on.
After a year like 2020, that hope is the best gift the holidays could bring us.
🎧To hear all the stories behind the stories, click here and subscribe to our Behind the Headlines podcast.
Editor's note: I value your feedback to my columns, story tips and your suggestions on how to improve our coverage. Let me know how MLive helps you, and how we can do better. Please feel free to reach out by emailing me at editor@mlive.com.
John Hiner Executive Editor Vice President of Content Mlive Media Group
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