Viral

You've seen virtual birthday parties. Virtual weddings. Even a virtual bris!

But, have you seen an entire college marching band come together from their own homes to jam out their school's FIGHT SONG?! Well, you have now!

Check out the Ohio University Marching 110 -- AKA, "The Most Exciting Band In The Land" -- performing a virtual rendition of "Stand Up and Cheer" despite the quarantine keeping the musicians' miles apart.

It's really amazing stuff -- and even made its way to the desk of Ohio governor Mike DeWine who dedicated the performance to "all our wonderful healthcare workers and first responders across #Ohio."

FYI ... the Marching 110 has a knack for going viral -- you may have seen them busting out  renditions of "Gangnam Style" and "Party Rock Anthem."

The new performance isn't just inspiring -- it also made us hyped for football season ... which immediately made us sad that it might not be happening in 2020 thanks to that stupid virus.

Regardless, shout out to the Marching 110.

If you thought "Three Billy Goats Gruff" was an enchanting fairy tale, you ain't seen nothing yet ... a small community in Wales has got that beat by the dozens.

Once upon a time, a virus took over the world and forced everyone inside for a long while. The city of Llandudno in the British land of Wales was no exception to the rule, and not a soul wandered its streets for weeks ... leaving the town barren and in relative silence.

The local mountain goat gang caught wind of the abandonment, and decided to try their hand at taking over the joint ... slowly but surely flocking and having their run of the place, without a human in sight to stop them.

The more goats that joined the herd, the more they were left to do their own bidding, and eventually ... the entire town was inundated with horns and lots of baaahhs.

The local townsfolk couldn't do a thing but watch intently from indoors. "Will we ever go outside again?" wondered Papa. "Doubtful," replied Mama. "The 'rona's got our goat for now."

The end ... or is it???

Trader Joe's just ripped a page out of Costco's playbook ... it's drawing a line in the sand on refunds due to the coronavirus.

The popular grocery store chain has instituted a new company-wide return policy ... "Due to the current circumstances we are unable to accept returns on overbought products. Thank you." This sign was posted at a SoCal location.

So, what does that mean? For example, if ya bought a food item like a bag of chips and it tastes awful, you can return it. But, if ya bought 18 packs of chips and wanna return them 'cause you were hoarding, the company's now saying no dice.

The new policy is a big about-face from its regular return policy loved by all loyal customers -- full refunds with no questions asked when you bring a receipt.

The move comes just a little over a week after Costco implemented a "no refunds" policy on some of the more popular items that have been flying off the shelves since the rise of the coronavirus ... from toilet paper and hand sanitizer to wipes and Lysol.

Trader Joe's, like many grocery stores, has gone to great lengths to keep its employees and customers safe. TJ is also asking its customers NOT to bring their own reusable bags in an effort to stem the spread of the virus. They've also instructed customers to remain at a distance while employees bag customers' groceries to limit the amount of interaction.

#StaySafe

Katherine Schwarzenegger is just one of many Angelenos up in arms over the amount of people at a local farmer's market -- and she's asking the Mayor to step in and shut it down.

Kat, along with several other people, tagged and responded to Mayor Eric Garcetti's message to citizens Sunday ... pointing out just how packed the Brentwood Farmer's Market was this morning, with not too many people practicing social distancing at all.

The photos circulating online are stunning -- you'd never guess anyone was under quarantine or safer-at-home orders ... it looks like a regular weekend in L.A., even though it really isn't. KS wrote, "The farmers market in Brentwood still being open seems like a huge issue when it comes to social gatherings 👏🏽" The implication ... please put a stop to this, Mister Mayor.

What's crazy is that cops in and around L.A. have, in fact, been issuing tickets to people who brazenly get too close to other people in public. We spoke with someone who was stopped by LAPD cops outside a Silverlake Starbucks in the L.A. area who said she was told she was getting a $400 ticket for being too close to another customer. When she told cops it was her roommate, they gave her a warning. That said, it begs a serious question.

Why are events like this allowed to go on if they will put people in harm's way? Sure, food is sold here -- which seems to fall under the essential business criteria -- but in reality, the photo makes it clear -- this is insanely dangerous.

It's especially weird, because Brentwood is extremely liberal, and most people presumably would be listening to Dr. Fauci rather than Donald Trump. But, by squeezing into such a small space, they're acting like Trumpers.

The LAPD tells us they didn't get any calls complaining about the market, but they say they're on their way out to the market now. They told us their job is to educate and keep people apart, not to ticket.

There seems to be a disconnect because there is a law on the books that says it's a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment to violate the social distancing rules.

The fear is real near the ritzy Rodeo Drive in L.A. -- shops are not only clearing their shelves of high-end merch ... they're also boarding up their stores, as you can see here.

Check out these shots TMZ got of the Pottery Barn in Beverly Hills -- off of Beverly Dr. and Dayton Way, right near Rodeo -- with construction workers putting up giants slabs of plywood and other material to completely cover their storefront windows facing the street.

It's kinda eerie and pretty clear -- it's being done to protect the store from would-be looters crazy enough to break in. The workers told us it was a temporary measure this specific PB was taking in anticipation of bad actors. Also, because it looks like they're going to be closed for a good long while here amid the outbreak.

Pottery Barn isn't the only furniture shop out in that neighborhood that seems to be worried about robberies and the like -- we got a glimpse of a West Elm store just around the corner that had its windows boarded up too. Only there's were way longer than Pottery's.

Because of the layout of the store, West Elm's row of boards ran the length of about half that block.

Besides that, several other luxury brand boutiques and retail stores have taken similar precautions of late as soon as city-wide and state-wide shutdown orders were placed.

Take Chanel, Prada, Balenciaga, Dior, Valentino and other designer brands along the strip ... photos of their store shelves being completely empty have been floating around online for a few days now. The whole area is an essential ghost town, and after Trump's announcement that these quarantine measures will be in place until April 30, it sounds like some businesses are getting ahead of a potential panic that could hit the streets.

A Southern California strip club has finally slammed its doors shut after a local news station rightly ratted them out for staying open ... but it took undercover work first.

The story's pretty wild ... L.A.'s own Fox 11 news team got tipped off about a strip joint in an unincorporated part of town, called City of Industry, CA, which went by the name of Bliss Showgirls. Apparently, they refused to comply with the shutdown order of non-essential businesses across the city and state ... and were still operating all the way through Friday.

The local news team sent some reporters of theirs undercover out to the club to record footage of several patrons coming and out, clearly showing Bliss was open for business.

Not only that, but Bliss' own social media accounts had defiantly stated they weren't closing, something the owner of the club told Fox 11 was due to a disgruntled ex-employee who had hacked the account. When they pressed him though ... he told them to piss off.

As the coronavirus spreads, some animal shelters and private rescue orgs are throwing up their hands and leaving their animals in the wind -- fortunately for Angelenos, one place isn't.

TMZ called various shelters (which are usually run by local or county governments) as well as rescues (privately run) and it appears most of them are ill-equipped to handle the influx of people looking to foster and/or adopt a dog right now.

We're talking about locations in and around California, Philly, NYC, Chicago, Miami ... by and large, a lot of the calls we placed went straight to voicemail -- which isn't that unusual. But, what is strange is what happened next ... little to no information on ways to get in contact, book appointments or, most importantly, go about taking in a dog from their facility.

It's pretty shocking. Some of these shelters and rescues have voicemails that say "we're closed due to the coronavirus." The obvious question ... what about your dogs??? The sad truth ... a lot of these shelters appear to have thrown in the towel. BTW, more people are looking to foster/adopt than ever ... so there are plenty of potential homes out there.

Enter, L.A.-based private rescue -- Ace of Hearts -- which has NOT closed its doors ... and is actually managing the influx of both dogs and clients pretty well these days. Their voicemail system is organized and clear about how to get in touch, as is their website ... which walks folks through how to go into the dog process.

The rescue's founder, Kari Whitman, tells us ... there has never been a better time to get these poor abandoned pups into a decent home -- 'cause people are, in fact, at home and realizing a pet in their lives wouldn't be such a bad thing right about now.

As such, Kari says she's seeing a massive rush of interest on both ends of the business -- she tells us she's taking in and housing up to 31 dogs in a matter of 3 days (that's the number she'll normally see in 10 weeks) and she's getting up to 40 foster/adoption apps a day.

She tells us she and her staff are working around the clock to get back to everyone, and then to interview them and see which households would be a good fit for which dog. It's a whole lot of work, but Kari says it's a lifestyle, and not one she intends to put on pause.

As for how exactly she goes about pairing dogs to people, she's taking precautions ... doing virtual house checks first, and then bringing the would-be new dog owners to her rescue where they can get to know the doggo. Masks and gloves are worn for this part.

Bottom line ... she hasn't stopped working for the cause. If anything, she's working harder than ever when the demand has never been higher. It's a win-win for both the people and the animals, as far as she's concerned.

Kari says there was one particular shelter out in San Bernardino County's Victor Valley that seemed more inclined to put dogs down than facilitate a transfer to Kari's place ... which might very well be happening at other locations too.

Moral of the story here ... dogs are still sitting in shelters, and some of them are eager to help you make them part of your family. So, doggonit ... adopt or foster a dog today!