(CNN) Former President Barack Obama thanked the health care workers fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic, spotlighting the story of one family impacted by combating the virus and urging Americans to show similar commitment to the common good.

"We owe a profound debt of gratitude to all our health professionals and everybody who'll be on the front lines of this pandemic for a long while," Obama tweeted on Tuesday, sharing the story of a family in which the father, a doctor, had opted to self-quarantine away from his family while treating coronavirus patients.

"They're giving everything," Obama added. "May we all model our own behavior on their selflessness and sacrifice as we help each other through this."

Obama referenced the circumstances of Rachel Patzer, a medical professor who tweeted on Tuesday that she and her husband, an emergency department physician, "made the difficult decision for him to isolate & move into our garage apartment for the foreseeable future as he continues to treat patients."

Patzer said that the couple has two young children and a 3-week-old newborn, who her husband would not get to spend time with and she must care for and home school. Thirty-seven states have closed public schools in light of the outbreak.

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