President Joe Biden’s first prime-time presidential address took a sobering yet hopeful tone as he outlined the next steps in the fight to defeat the coronavirus.

The president spoke to the American people hours after officially signing the first major achievement of his administration, the $1.9 trillion American Relief Plan. He made public his goal to have all Americans 18 years or older be eligible to get the vaccine by May 1st. He also set July 4th as a target date in the battle against the virus. Biden said he hopes Americans can get “closer to normal” by that day, and possibly be able to gather in small groups to celebrate Independence Day together.

But he also cautioned that the fight is far from over and called for everyone to continue to practice social distancing, wear masks, and wash their hands.

Despite the optimism he offered, Biden also took time to mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, which has taken more than 530,000 American lives and disrupted just about every aspect of everyday life.

“We all lost something — a collective suffering a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life…”

That empathy, a Biden trademark throughout his decades in public office, was received well by many who watched the address.

It wasn’t hard to notice the stark contrast in tone between Biden and his predecessor.