Coronavirus-Themed Doughnuts Were, Perhaps, Inevitable

Remember the cronut, Dominique Ansel's legendary croissant-doughnut? Well, meet the corona-nut—similar sounding, but way darker! A bakery in Suffolk, Virginia called O'doodleDoo's Donuts is now selling Coronavirus Sprinkle doughnuts, in honor (?) of the pandemic blazing through the United States. As of this writing, there are 78 coronavirus cases in Virginia, the commonwealth has declared a state of emergency, and all schools are closed. But yeah, doughnuts, fun!

By the looks of their Instagram, the bakery does an impressive amount of doughnut stylings: unicorn doughnuts, Hamilton doughnuts, Minecraft doughnuts. We simply must concede that there's some extraordinary pastry frosting art happening over at O'doodleDoo's Donuts, so much of which is pop-culture and/or meme-centric. But their penchant for festooning fried cakes in the hot topic du jour has garnered backlash in the past: Back in 2018, the shop landed in hot water for making Tide Pod doughnuts, during that weird time where teens eating laundry detergent was all the rage. (How quaint that seems now!) So, it appears the Coronavirus Sprinkle doughnut, which resembles the COVID-19 strain, is more or less on brand for O'doodleDoo's, despite (or because of?) its crudeness.

Of course, it's important to have a sense of humor, even in these dark times. But peddling pastries shaped like a virus spreading exponentially across the globe, killing thousands and walloping the American economy seems like...not the move? Maybe the folks of Suffolk, Virginia will be delighted and form cronut-length lines for the corona-nut. But I can safely say I'll remain socially distanced from this pastry.