All the casinos have closed due to Covid-19. We are told to stay home and not go anyplace. Stores are out of toilet paper and a host of other items. Covid-19 has closed all my customers' doors, so I can't work. Doctors and hospitals are saying, if we get sick we should not show up for medical help, but call them for advice. I wasn't planning on giving up quite this much for Lent!!!
Actually I never go to the casinos... but they have all closed, so maybe the virus is good for something! I made a run to Walmart. They had a half dozen jugs of whole milk, no hamburger, no steak, no pork chops, no hot dogs (except 1 package of Bar-S Franks, but we're not that desperate!), no bread, no baking flour, no laundry soap, and on and on. I did manage to buy some hard salami, orange juice, and a couple each of tomatoes, pears, and peaches. No chip dip, so that's out for Lent as well.
I'm not working at the moment either. I had an appointment in town this morning and afterwards stopped of at one of the smaller supermarkets there. It was still well stocked on the whole but they were out of toilet rolls. I heard that the largest and busiest supermarket in town has a lot of empty shelves. The Daily Mail newspaper has a rather grim front page today: 'Millions told to stay at home for at least 12 weeks... Without isolation corona could kill 260000.' Our village doctor's are doing as much as they can via telephone and are not allowing anyone over 70 to visit the surgery premises. There have been a handful of confirmed cases of the virus in my county but fortunately no deaths reported so far. Our Rector is waiting for updated guidelines today regarding the continuation of Church services.
Our Bishop has just suspended Public Worship in the Diocese. That is a whole lot I was not planning on giving up for Lent!