We all know what it’s like to live through a year of hell.

To many people, especially those who lost loved ones to COVID-19, the year 2020 — and perhaps a lot of 2021 — will be the worst time of our lives.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than an entire year has been lost, a span of time in which we couldn’t be with loved ones when they needed us; when we learned to communicate through a mask; when the “normal” parts of our lives were stolen and replaced with fear and uncertainty.

The year was equivalent to being in the middle of an Edgar Allan Poe horror story, wondering if somehow there will be a happy ending. Still, even the terrors of Poe’s short story, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” in the end, didn’t take their expected toll. I won’t reveal what happened, but read it some time. Believe it or not, that horrific story has a happy ending.

Will the horrors of 2020-2021 afford us a happy ending to the pandemic?

Only if we stay vigilant, according to officials. Even if we are experiencing COVID-19 exhaustion.

In an Associated Press story on March 29, President Joe Biden and a top health official warned that too many Americans are declaring COVID-19 victory far too quickly.

The president and other officials appealed to the public — they are begging everyone — to maintain mask requirements and other restrictions to stave off a “fourth surge” of COVID-19.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she had a feeling of “impending doom” if people keep easing off COVID-19 protections and precautions.

“This is deadly serious,” Biden said, urging governors to reinstate mask mandates and other restrictions that some states have been easing.

Biden laid out hopeful new steps to expand coronavirus vaccinations, with all adults to become eligible within the next five weeks.

There’s been some good news: Every adult in Pennsylvania will qualify for COVID-19 vaccines starting April 19, and emergency responders, grocery workers and others will be able to set up shots immediately, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced Wednesday.

Biden announced plans to expand the number of retail pharmacies that are administering vaccines, and investments to help Americans get to vaccination sites.

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope,” Walensky said. “But right now, I’m scared.”

Several stories the Eagle has published about vaccination programs in Butler County reveal the tears of joy and celebrations that people have experienced, their feelings of relief, and hope that the vaccine has provided them. A feeling of hope, and a sense of security, is what people need right now.

Meanwhile, stay vigilant and cautious. Take good care of yourself. Wear your mask.

— AA