Are You There God? It’s Me, Conor!

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Thoughts & prayers.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, is just as helpless as the rest of the world when it comes to the suffering in Italy, where 59,138 have become infected with coronavirus and another 5,476 have died.

Perhaps a little divine intervention is in order.

“I cannot get Italy out of my thoughts,” McGregor wrote on Instagram. “Praying daily for this great nation that brought the world such amazing things. From its people and their culture. To it’s architecture and design. Its style! It’s cuisine! It’s art! The list goes on and on and on! Italy and it’s people are class personified, through and through. ‪Lord Jesus please save Italy and its people today and everyday here forward”

As of this writing, 7,024 infected patients have recovered.

Things have gotten so bad in Italy that the northern region of Lombardy and its capital, Milan, recently banned outdoor exercise and set a strict 650-foot limit on dog walking. Violators are subject to fines in excess of $5,000.

“It is the most difficult crisis in our post-war period,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said (via Reuters). “Only production activities deemed vital for national production will be allowed.”

The coronavirus outbreak has not been as bad in McGregor’s backyard of Dublin, Ireland. In fact, the country as a whole has to date reported just 906 infected and four dead. That’s roughly the same number returned from the state of Florida.

I guess if you were ever going to pray, now would be a good time.