Patrick Dempsey Brought Back McDreamy From Grey’s Anatomy to Get You to Wear a Mask

Patrick Dempsey just brought back his most famous character—Dr. Derek Shepherd from Grey’s Anatomy—for a very important reason. 

It’s been a few seasons (spoiler alert!) since Grey’s fans have had McDreamy in our lives, and honestly, it’s been tough and I’ve missed him very much. But boy, was it good to see Dempsey channeling Derek to get a necessary message to his fans. In an Instagram post, the actor shows off his handsome face wearing a recommended face mask with the caption, “It’s a Beautiful Day to Save Lives. #WearAMask #COVID19 #YourActionsSaveLives.” 

Any fan of the show knows this is the iconic line Derek says before each surgery he performs. We, quite simply, love to see it—especially as cases of coronavirus are surging once again in states like Florida and some people see wearing masks as a political statement rather than a simple way to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Patrick Dempsey isn’t the only star using one of his famous roles to promote wearing face masks. Recently, Anne Hathaway shared a meme featuring Andy Sachs from The Devil Wears Prada which she captioned, “Face Masks. During a pandemic. Groundbreaking.”

While yes, these posts are entertaining, they are also serving a greater purpose by reminding Americans to wear their masks, in keeping with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control. 

“Cloth face coverings are recommended as a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the cloth face covering coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice,” the CDC website reads. “This is called source control. This recommendation is based on what we know about the role respiratory droplets play in the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, paired with emerging evidence from clinical and laboratory studies that shows cloth face coverings reduce the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth. COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact with one another (within about six feet), so the use of cloth face coverings is particularly important in settings where people are close to each other or where social distancing is difficult to maintain.”

It’s truly not that hard. If you still need a face mask, here are some places online to buy them right now. McDreamy will be so proud of you.