Scott Cook, a computer science major in his third year, serves as Ward Clerk in the Provo 110 YSA ward. Each Sunday since being called last year, Scott dutifully emerged from his private room to count the attending members.

But on March 15, Scott, blissfully unaware of current events, arrived for sacrament only to find himself the sole attendee. He texted the bishop, asking where everyone was, and the bishop replied, thinking he was kidding, “Haha, funny Scott.”

Utterly confused, Scott continued to come back each Sunday, his shock growing. We talked to Scott to ask how not knowing about Coronavirus was even possible. Here’s what he told us:

“Well, I’ve been doing all my classes online for the last year anyway, so none of my classes were canceled or changed. I pretty much never leave my room, except to go count the members at church.”

We asked him why does he even go to BYU if he’s not trying to get married.

He said, “Oh I’ve got that covered. I’m already creating the perfect wife on my computer. I designed an AI to watch thousands of hours of Korean Dramas to find out what makes a relationship strong, then put all those qualities into a simulated female who also has all the qualities my patriarchal blessing says to look for. Someday, I’ll design a body for her too.”

Then we asked why he didn’t read the news.

“I don’t read any news because I’m always coding. I have all my food automatically delivered.

“When no one kept showing up, I just thought people left the church en masse, but I was too scared to ask anyone. I didn’t want people to think I didn’t know what was going on.

“I guess I probably should have asked.”

Scott finally found out about COVID-19 when his roommate died from the virus.