Corona Crazy

Oh man, things are getting weird.

First, Marty and Lizzie's wedding: As of this weekend, groups of more than 50 aren't supposed to congregate -- including weddings. We received a notice from our dinner venue saying, until April 22nd, parties would be limited to under 100. (That was the government recommendation as of Friday.) Seemed doable.

But then on Saturday we got a very brief e-mail simply saying the venue (Joseph Smith Memorial) and all other church sites, have been closed for all events indefinitely. Ok... But this will probably be over by May 1, right? We decided that if it wasn't, we'd move the dinner and program to our yard, get a tent if needed, cater if possible, potluck if not, and it would still be wonderful!

But then the "more than 50" came out. And this morning it's "more than 10." Hmmm...

Marty was annoyed that this Coronavirus thing was getting so huge and Lizzie laughed and said, "Whelp!" This morning her friend getting married in two weeks sent Lizzie a copy of a note she just received from the temple that sealings were being limited to 8 guests, temple grounds were closed to guests, but they could have a photographer meet the couple for photos. My thought... do you just want to get married in a couple of weeks and have a reception later? Not sure what they want to do, but we will support them whatever that is! Right now I think the only thing to do is wait a couple of weeks and see where we're at at that time.

Second, Spring Break in Hawaii: Last night as we were packing our bags, our friends called after hearing rumors "from good sources" that inter-state flights were going to be grounded. We discussed if we should cancel or not. Worried about getting stuck in Hawaii.

I've been worried about food, so Dan called the hotel, but they claim they have enough for guests and there hasn't been a run on grocery stores yet (for when we stay in the villas).

Oh, did I mention that when school got "dismissed" we changed our flights to leave Monday instead of Wednesday?

But our friend brought up the point that what if we are asked to not leave our rooms. Ugh. We felt sure those were just rumors. And also that if flights were stopped, we would have a few days warning to book flights back home. We all decided to be prayerful about it and evaluate our feelings in the morning. Also see what news there was at that time.

This morning, Dan saw the rumors come through on a more reliable source and decided to pull the plug. Nick and I were pretty disappointed, but I also knew that in this case it might be better to be safe than sorry.  However, our friends called and even though they were skeptical last night, this morning they didn't feel a big "no," so were still considering it. Dan was in a board meeting so we could only text our feelings and thought processes, but in the end decided to go. We all also booked refundable flights to come home beginning Wednesday, and then we'll keep changing if there isn't news of halting flights.

Yay! So we're on our way, fingers crossed we don't get sick or stuck. Dan packed his bag with Clif Bars, just in case. I'm assuming in Hawaii, if we learn to fish, we'll have food. (However, the lady in front of me has coughed throughout the six hour flight. So loudly and frequently I feel sure she's not covering her mouth. I feel contaminated. But if I get it, we know where it came from.)

Like Rachel said, at least its not Ebola.