Mumsnet during the beginning of the Pandemic - please tell me your stories of the maddest comments you saw

I think this is the worst one of all 😱

Yeah this. I have 2 young children with an underlying condition that, at the time, was thought to be very high risk. They isolated.

it turned out the risk wasn’t high, but I’d far rather have reacted to what was thought to be the risk, than have under-reacted and it turn out to have been serious.

There was a brilliant one about an allotment - an MNer was wondering whether she could go there and cue loads of crying and shaking and tearful declamations of her as a murderer. Someone memorably wrote in all caps “WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR LETTUCE!!! LET IT ROT!!!!”

Generally there was an awful lot of use of the phrases “thrown under the bus” or “thrown to the wolves”. I think every single demographic on MN felt they’d been thrown somewhere. If not then they were on their knees. No one was was standing still normally.

It seemed that the majority were disinfecting their delivered shopping before allowing it through the door.

Bearing in mind this is the United Kingdom - a nation built on PG Tips, a poster was told teabags were not essential.

For me lock down really was an eye opener, same for my sister. We both worked in management in different sectors of hospitality. 60-70 hour weeks, only at home to sleep. I ended up signed off with severe stress just before lockdown as the doctor said he would either have to sign me off or I would be in hospital with exhaustion within a month. I was, in hindsight, very ill.

That summer was amazing for us because it was the first time for years we had anything like a proper break and reset. I had been suffering weekly migraines for years and didnt know why. Never had a single one in lockdown but had 2 my first week after we reopened. So we both took a long hard look at our careers and decided to step down. We are both at non management level now and our health and mental health has imporved massively.

BUT we both know that we were very lucky to have that and that others didnt have it so good at all. Oh, and I agree about those fucking videos, I refused to do it in the end. Luckily our school was very relaxed about home schooling, just said to do what we could and not to worry too much if we couldnt. Again, I know how lucky I was to have that.

I think its not so much people who, for whatever reason, enjoyed lock down. Its the ones who think that we all should have done and if you didnt then you are a miserable bitch who didnt take advantage of the time and make the most of it.

It really did seem by the end of 2020 that the government were indulging in sadistic edge play.

People also forget that restrictions were still in place in some settings in 2022 - late DP tested positive for Covid after being rushed in for a brain bleed in late January. He got through the first operation, and I was able to have one call with him, but visiting was forbidden for 2 weeks. He deteriorated, had a second bleed that basically rendered him brain dead, and died in the third week, which meant I could sit by his unresponsive side while he breathed his last, but I would have done anything to see him in the few days he was lucid, worn a bloody hazmat suit if necessary. Still sore about that, as he was boosted a week before his collapse, and I'm not vulnerable. It was cancer, only discovered at post mortem that had metastasised, but for a while I lived with the anxiety that it was something to do with the booster.

I remember, will never forget or forgive, the stupid government thinking it was ok for DH, a doctor, to work on Covid wards without proper PPE.

Easy to laugh now, but we didn’t really know back then. I didn’t do it, but next time we might not have the last laugh.

Wow

I had to take my toddler daughter to the GP surgery. We parked 200m from the surgery at a car park which was on the same side of the road as the doctors. So a simple walk down a wide pavement with barriers to get to the surgery door.

But the council had decided to make that deserted strip of pavement into a one way path which ran the opposite way to where i needed to go. There were no people there and no houses so I ignored it and began to walk down the empty pavement the wrong way (60 second walk with no risk of passing anyone). I was accosted by a passing police car who made me walk 500m in the opposite direction to the next pedestrian crossing and then cross 5 side roads with a toddler and baby in order to cross the A road again (in front lorries) just to walk back on my self in the permitted direction to get to the surgery door.

I was told I was risking peoples lives but he had no answer when I explained that the risk of my children being run over crossing a busy A road 5 times in 10 minutes was greater than us giving someone covid on an empty pavement (we had all just done covid tests prior to leaving the house).

I knew someone who is adamant he had Covid in September 2019.

I deliberately avoided MN during the pandemic. I can’t take the stupidity on here at the best of times let alone during a global pandemic

My old cat came strolling back in, exactly as the clapping started. Naturally being a cat he assumed it was for him and happily paraded around the garden for the next few months, craning his neck to see who was clapping
he was gutted when it stopped

I sent a friend a parcel to cheer her up. Paid for First Class postage, only for her to have it sat in "quarantine" in her garage for 3 days.
She would also bleach all the loose veg from the supermarket too.

Before Christmas and before covid I do remember reading on MN many posters asking people if anyone knew if there was an illness going around with a horrible cough and feeling unusually ill. It did not feel like a normal flu. If it was just them feeling so ill for such a long time and what it was.
I told people at work that there seemed to be a new strain/flu in the UK, we are usually a few months after you in things like this. Then covid was confirmed. Weird.

The washing of all food items in bleach (no, not just the packaging)

I remember the poor mum who took her children to spend the night in their summerhouse in their garden and someone called the police on them.

"I've just tested positive so I'm off to the supermarket to do a massive shop before we start self-isolating."

lmaoo

I remember posts like these

There was a thread about shortages in shops i.e. what's low in stock in your area. I commented a couple of things including that easter eggs were selling really quickly and early and that my local shop limited it to 2 eggs per customer, but we had 4 children so I had to wait a week to get the other eggs- it wasn't a moan just a comment! I was told I was putting my children's need for frivolous chocolate over the health of the nation, my kids were greedy to expect 1 egg each, shouldn't be going to shops just for easter eggs (I wasn't), and that by doing so I was killing people etc etc.

Cake?

Thanks for posting.
My evening is sorted going through these 🤣🤣

I like the title of this one.
They obviously thought no one would get covid because they live in The SouthEast 🤣🤣👏

Hospitals in my area Oxon, once patients were allowed visitors for an hour a week, took any items off them eg biscuits, chocolate, shaving cream and quarantined them for 48 to 72 hours. This was on non Covid wards

Probably cake? 🪓