July Fourth is coming up, and I know I’m not alone in looking forward to some festivities. In all our communities we want folks to enjoy the holiday, but we also need to keep in mind to celebrate safely.

It’s been an eventful week here in Juneau. The legislature convened for hardly more than 48 hours—Monday morning through Wednesday morning—to swiftly pass a bill to speed federal COVID-19 assistance to communities, small businesses, schools, and state services across Alaska.

With the gradual “re-opening” of sectors of the state’s economy now underway, I hope many of you can take advantage of activities that bring respite to our many weeks of self-isolation. All the same, I want to encourage everyone to go about this as safely as possible. Continue social distancing, wear masks when you shop or need to interact with people at close proximity, and keep washing hands and disinfecting surfaces.

First off, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. These are troubling times in so many ways for so many families. To those of you who continue to provide indispensable services to our communities—from healthcare providers to grocery store employees to our first responders and state agency staff—your work is so much appreciated.

Following a floor session that lasted until nearly 1:45 a.m. on Sunday morning, the legislature wrapped up its work on the Fiscal Year 2021 operating budget, the 2020 supplemental, and a sequence of bills drawn up to address the impact of the COVID-19 crisis as quickly as possible.