Maria, I'm glad to hear it. I'm not nearly as close with my relatives there, but the one cousin I follow on FB said they are doing well.

One of my students is from Italy, and she was telling me today that she's concerned about her family there. And now I'm concerned about where she's going to go now, since they're closing the dorms and she can't go home. I'm worried about the same thing for a bunch of other international students, too.

Closing the dorms Is such a shit move. I hope something is set up for them.

Yeah, restaurants in the neighborhood were busy, if not Friday night busy, tonight. But some of them were closing early.

The wedding tonight was lovely and went well. The facilities manager told the bride that all events booked there *after* tonight are going to be cancelled because of Covid-19. The bride and groom got SO lucky.

Then when we got home -- Jesus, you guys, I could not make this up if I tried -- one of our besties called to tell us her husband had a brain aneurysm rupture on Wednesday and he had emergency brain surgery yesterday to repair it. WHAT THE FUCK, 2020?!?!?!? WHAT THE FUCK.

The brain surgeon (Jesus Christ, our friend has a BRAIN SURGEON now) said that a significant percentage of people who survive the surgery end up having severe neurological deficits afterward. Our friend, however, is doing totally fine after surgery, as far as all the doctors and therapists can tell at this point (the speech therapist said he's talking fine for this point in his recovery and obviously understands what people are saying, so the part of his brain that processes speech is fine).

I...really can't process this right now. Like, we went from our friends' lovely wedding tonight and got home to find out that one of our best friends had fucking emergency brain surgery. My emotions are all over the goddamn map right now. The important part, absolutely, is that he seems to be doing fine, with no neurological deficits. But holy fucking shitballs. Goddamn brain surgery.

So I'll be awake for a while until the adrenaline leaves my system.

I just can't even with this year, y'all.

Yikes! Glad your bestie has a good brain surgeon.

Apparently that surgeon is one of the best in several counties. What a stroke of luck!

I think that's almost assuredly enough stress for Teppy.

In other Katie-related news dumping, the grocery store was so crowded shoppers had to find a cart from someone who had finished shopping. Never have I seen this at my local grocery. They were completely out of toilet paper, and the only pasta left was lying loose on the floor. Things are getting serious around here.

Pearlie's progress is trending back to normal. This illness is mysterious because the blood test was pretty much normal.

Shir, can you get some Mirataz for your kitty? It's a transdermal appetite stimulate and you put on gloves and rub it into the ear. I think it helped Pearlie remember she likes kibble.

I love you people, but most especially at a time like this.

aurelia, after you've had them all sterilize/wash everything reasonably reachable, how about spending some time doing a table read of the last play you had? (Social distance seating, 'natch.)

I told my boss at work that I was up for extra shifts when/if necessary. At worst, if we lose staff to quarantine or have a case inside the residence, we could end up with 80 residents asked to stay in their rooms and trays of food brought round to them.

We have several people on hospice and/or who need 24hr attendance. The hospice people are currently the only ones who are allowed unlimited visitors so long as they pass our 'health check' which involves taking their temperature and seeing if they're coughing or sneezing.