The TimesDaily on health care workers in Alabama getting a COVID-19 vaccine and the devastation from the pandemic: Shortly after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination early Thursday morning, Helen Keller Hospital pulmonologist Dr. Lynn Ridgeway offered an observation that everyone in the Shoals area can agree with. “This is a huge sign of hope,” Ridgeway said of the first round of vaccinations. That sign of hope could not have been delivered at a more appropriate time. Since March, nearly 9,500 residents of the Shoals have tested positive for COVID-19, and 120 have died. They were our family members, our friends. Their importance is lost in the cold reality of an ever-growing number of infections.