One of my co-worker went home sick a few hours in. Literally doubled up.

There’s something about the impending pandemic that makes every little thing seem sinister. Is it Coronavirus? Uhm… well, maybe, but more likely ulcerative colitis. I already knew about that. Any other time, I’d be wincing for him, but not really expecting to catch anything.

I’d like to be ordered to self-isolate. And I promise to do so religiously. (Apparently, now with pay!) But I’d really rather not actually get sick. I have work to do.

The nursing homes near me have stopped letting visitors in. The stores are running out of the strangest things. (Thermometers? Seriously?) And events that need to happen are being cancelled. Yup. That means one co-worker’s wedding, and another’s rodeo. Both wedding and rodeo will be fully refunded.

We’re in the wait-and-see holding pattern around here, but it’s pretty obvious what the outcome will be. Schools closed to the north of us. Schools closed to the south of us… They’ll hold out as long as they can, of course. (Lots of low-income kids who need to be fed, and not much plan for that, once they go home.) But, in the end, they’ll close, too.

I’m one of the lucky ones. Food in the pantry, toilet paper in the cupboard.