Coronavirus

I'm interrupting the last Mexico post to give an update on the status of things here.  The Coronavirus has struck WA and it's been crazy to see the reaction.  Last week I went to Costco for my usual groceries.  It was a madhouse!  Just getting into the parking lot was a nightmare.  I finally found a person loading up their car and waited impatiently for the woman to stuff three huge packages of toilet paper into her little Prius so I could taker her parking spot when she left.  If I hadn't been so annoyed I probably would have laughed at her struggles.  The lines inside were unlike anything I've ever seen and people were stocking up on bottled water and toilet paper like it was going out of style.  I almost bought some just in case there was a reason to get it that I had somehow missed, but the logical part of my brain took control and I resisted the urge to follow the crowd.  The Coronavirus doesn't cause diarrhea and our drinking water is still safe so I'm not sure why people have gone crazy over it but IT'S SO ANNOYING!  The next day things started shutting down.  People were told to work from home, schools closed, and big events including church were canceled.
Our schools are still open although it looks like they will close tonight or tomorrow.  In the meantime, no volunteers are allowed inside schools, desks are being wiped down constantly, and hand sanitizer stations have been set up in the elementary school.  The school district has banned all activities from schools that aren't school-related, ie sports.  They have also banned anyone from using the playing fields other than school sports teams.  What this means for our family is that Marcus's lacrosse team can't play on the school fields that they rent from the school because they are a club team.  The reasoning for this ban is because the staff/cleaning crews need to direct all their attention towards keeping the schools sanitary and can't clean the fields.  Confused?  I am too.  Track and cross country kids continue to work out on the fields though.  This also means all the lacrosse games have been temporarily canceled.  This is a huge deal for a few reasons.  First, I have four boys playing this sport so we went from crazy busy to nothing to do.  Second, Marcus has spent hours training to be a lax ref and was planning to earn some great money by reffing games on Saturdays.  Those games are all canceled now.  And third and most important, Marcus is missing his sophomore lacrosse season.  He wants to play lax in college and won't have the playing time or the footage to show coaches his stuff.   He is so upset and so am I.
Oh, and one other huge impact of this crisis is that the annual women's event I've been in charge of at church is now canceled.  Guest speaker Al Carraway was going to fly here from AZ to speak to us but not anymore!  It makes me sad but nothing can be done.
Things at our office are slowing down but not terribly.  We've had lots of patients cancel but others have still come in.  Luckily if they're in pain, they will come in for a root canal regardless.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that our staff will stay healthy because even a sneeze is bad for business.
On the bright side, THERE IS NO TRAFFIC!  All the people staying home from work or hiding inside their homes has made a huge difference in the number of cars on the road and this means I can zip around Sammamish like nobody's business.  It feels glorious, especially since all the lacrosse practices have been moved to a park that normally takes almost 20 minutes to drive to and now only takes me ten.