To think some people need to get a grip!

[CurrentBun1981]

There are clearly those who are being far too nonchalant about the current situation, but tbh I'm probably encountering more of the slightly hysterical/OTT types right now.

For example, my friend has been frantically discussing on FB how best to sterilise her shopping and has implemented some ridiculously elaborate system of debagging shopping in the garage, putting the bags in the outside bin, wiping everything down with sanitising wipes, then walking back to put these in the bin too, before then leaving everything in quarantine for a couple days in the garage fridge. She's now worried about whether she's already brought the virus into the house on her shoes or her dog as she hadn't thought of that till she read it, and is discussing this on FB right now, trying to make another process involving outdoor footwear, indoor footwear, and 'transitional' footwear (presumably slippers from garage into house or something).

Her view is that she wants to go 110% in ensuring she doesn't catch it, which is fine. However, she doesn't do anything like this in any other areas of her life, which I suspect is the same thing for many others acting similarly.

For example, I've never seen her check the tyre pressure on her car and am 100% certain she doesn't do this weekly as is recommended. I'm pretty certain she doesn't know the legal tread depth and how to check it as she often needs new tyres at MOT stage (presumably illegally low on tread at this point).

What is it about this recent crisis that's invoking fear in the types of people who rarely use their car mirrors except to check their make up?

I'll concede that theoretically you could probably bring the virus into your house on your feet if you stepped in somebody's spit etc, but the likelihood has got to be tiny, and this is all ultimately to avoid catching a disease which will give the majority of victims 'mild' symptoms and is statistically extremely unlikely to kill her in the unlikely chance she catches it - I'm convinced the government might just let us crack on and catch it if it wasn't for the unmanageable strain on the NHS.

@AmIAStone oh I apologise. On another thread someone made me a bit furious. Let’s say we had a lucky save last time and this would be the last nail, but so rare that condition is not in the vulnerable list.
I wish you best of luck

At all

YABU on a few levels.
What has it got to do with you? Live and let live. We know very little about this virus yet, taking extra safety precautions is considered standard. The rate of transmission is very high, so it makes sense to try and eliminate contamination with anything outside of our households. If you have a lax approach, good for you. If she wants to be extra with sanitising, good for her.

You call her your friend? Yet here you are slagging off her choices anonymously on a public forum.

Totally agree with you OP, people do need to get a grip. There seems to be an inability to see the bigger picture, assess risk and worst of all, a selfishness where people think only about themselves and their families.

The way things are going with this extended lockdown and no discussion whatsoever about an exit strategy, the most vulnerable in society are going to be struggling to survive, whilst the middle classes disappear up their own arses, decontaminating their post and hosing down the shopping.

The thing about shoes is, virus in the aerosol form (breathed/sneezed/coughed out) will not float forever and presumably land on a surface - including the floor. A virologist has been in the media recently (was it the How Clean is your House special?) saying keep one pair of shoes to wear outside and remove them as soon as you get home.

We all just do the best we can. It hurts seeing so many dying no matter the age. What bugs me is when they say someone died then immediately say they had a underlying condition like that was the reason and makes it ok.

It does have to do with others because it can make others anxious too. Emotional contagion is a thing as well. I have tried to stop looking at these posts online as they make me stressed.

I read for those with OCD all this is like a validation that their worries are true after having treatment in the past. It can pass on to the children as well and make them anxious. I have a friend and although they don't go out (and sadly children not getting fresh air and exercise) they keep hand washing. That is OTT I think and not healthy. It can spiral and get out of control.

I mean hand washing multiple times a day even though not going out.

"It does have to do with others because it can make others anxious too."

You can't seriously ask others to alter their behaviour because it might make others anxious though (beyond things like being a public nuisance). I'm sorry but that's just not reasonable.

"I mean hand washing multiple times a day even though not going out."

That is normal. You should wash your hands multiple times a day.

It does have to do with others because it can make others anxious too.

Other peoples anxiety doesn't make me anxious. Perhaps you need to work on these issues yourself if it's a problem for you.

It is about trying to regain a sense of control and safety within the confines of your own home, isn’t it? Logically, if you are doing all that, you should also be wearing goggles to protect your eyes when you go out, and a tightly fitting face mask, and refusing to kiss, hug, have sex with, etc, anyone in the household who has been outside within the past 14 days - so if you haven’t gone that extreme, and have enough disinfectant to behave like that without triggering a lung or skin reaction to it, then go ahead if it helps you feel more safe and relaxed inside your own home. If it’s a genuine anxiety problem, your actions won’t be making you feel better, you will still be worrying it's not enough and will start re-cleaning and sterilising over and over.

What I am getting at is that OCD is about doing multiple actions above and beyond needed, often repetitively- it is a slippery slope. It's important to be aware with mental health conditions as they can spiral out of control.

It's being reported today around 20% of people are developing severe anxiety and MH issues as a result of this crisis and it is a concern.

Each to their own. And people have different levels of susceptibility when it comes to anxiety and they deal with anxiety in different ways.

I'm not going to extremes as I realise must of us are going to get it at some point, but I am keeping shopping trips down to once every 7-10 days (only 3 of us at home and we have a car so this is possible for us) and changing shoes, outer clothes, wearing mask, wiping bags and contents and door, fridge, kettle, handles with diluted bleach and Dettol etc etc.

I don't see that as excessive until we know more about the disease. And until medics work out why some seemingly young and healthy patients succumb to a cytokine storm when they get this virus. Personally I'll err on the side of caution until science tells us we don't have to.

Also, should a member of my family succumb, I would want to know that I have done, and have been doing, everything in my power - within reason and being fairly sensible about it - to prevent transmission. Even if, God forbid, they didn't survive, I would want to know that I had made an effort on their behalf ifyswim, even if it made no difference to the outcome.

If you think your friend is anxious, then surely it would be better to offer her a few words of reassurance on Facebook rather than start a thread about her?

"It's important to be aware with mental health conditions as they can spiral out of control."

And it's also important to not die of Coronavirus 🤷‍♀️

Yes totally agree adayatthebeach. I hate the "oh it's ok they had underlying conditions" mentality! Plus, even if we don't have vulnerable people in our immediate household, the levels of hygiene we practice at home will presumably start to have an affect on others who are vulnerable, once we all start mingling again.

I mean hand washing multiple times a day even though not going out.
Weren’t people doing this?
Toilet, cooking, blowing your nose, touching rubbish, changing a nappy, before eating?

Do you never sit on the floor? Genuinely asking, we're Asian so we sit on the floor all the time to eat or watch TV. Yes I do sit on the floor but not by the front door. I leave my shoes by the front door so why would I need to clean them?

My DH didn't get this either until I explained the following scenario. He goes on his walk, steps in spit from a passing infected jogger, wears shoes into the house, dog rolls on carpet where he has been standing, he strokes dog and puts his fingers on his face - Voila - he has caught it! He is taking his shoes off at the front door now! We don't have a dog.

So again is it a risk to come into the house, leave my shoes by the frontdoor without cleaning them.

@Tzigane well said. You've written so eloquently what I also feel about all this.

I'm pretty sure you're meant to check tyres every 4-6 weeks, not every week. But yes I was talking to someone recently who didn't even know how to do it.

I think people can overthink it and be a bit OTT . Everyone seens to judging everyone else, whether its neighbours twitching their curtains or people rolling their eyes at friends disinfecting their shopping, we've all got too much time in our hands the media doesn't help.
I was ( and still am to a certain extent) in the eye rolling brigade. However a week before lockdown 2 of my DC went down with dry coughs and I later contracted a virus which left me breathless, GP advised it was definitely a virus but couldn't say which one without tests.
At the same time a colleague who admits to being a bit OCD was off sick for a couple of days before lockdown with a sore throat. She also kept her son off school that week with a sore throat. At work we were thinking it was an illness of convenience and she was probably avoiding going out as she had been very worried about the virus and talking about it continuously, including deep cleaning her desk at least twice a day , however she clearly had the last laugh as my family have probably had it and hers havent!

I’m working in a supermarket so I’m taking the attitude that if I’m going to get it it’s going to be there interacting with people all day not from the tin of beans in my cupboard I bought that day.

However it’s my personal choice. If it makes you more relaxed and feel better to wipe down your shopping then crack on. If it makes you tense and anxious and leads to more extreme cleaning or time consuming rituals then you might need to talk to somebody.

Live and let live. We’re all just muddling through.

It doesnt pass by young healthy people, there are plenty of them dying as well, as it can live in hard surfaces for 72 hours, not worth taking the chance.

Does anyone claiming serious concerns from the medical community have any evidence? I’m just interested as it would be a very peculiar coronavirus to behave like HIV Or cause neurological damage.

It is weird to me that people genuinely seem to believe they can protect themselves and their families from ever catching the virus, when all the evidence is that the best we can hope for is to slow the spread, to give ourselves all the best chance of surviving it. I think if people understood this better, they might have a more balanced approach to following the guidelines without going completely crazy.