Are we all living this way or have I gone mad?!

[stardrops007]

Okay, so I'm not sure if I've just lost touch with normality here or if actually I'm living the "new normal"

Today was the first time in months that I met indoors with a friend (I know )

It was in the centre so I had to pay for parking, I found myself using a wipe to touch the parking meter.
Before entering the restaurant I sanitised my hands, once in the restaurant I sanitised my hands as I'd touched the chair before sitting down and became aware of possible contamination!

We then ordered a drink and I found myself sanitising again as I'd touched the glass.

We were there for two hours and I just couldn't stop sanitising.

I've come home and taken off all my clothes to wash them straight away.

My friend only sanitised before eating, but I noticed she'd touched the chair and other surfaces a lot!!!

Am I being OTT? Or is my friend quite relaxed?

It will lead it won't lead

Over the top but notes much as some people here are saying, people mention OCD but we are in a pandemic, taking precautions doesn't mean that please God if everything eases off it will still be a compulsion. And it was your first time out, with each time you will figure out what constitutes necessary and unnecessary. Also I'd rather people be ott than not doing anything!!

You sound hysterical

@Hadjab, why would she be joking? I’d do the same. I’d probably wash my hands when I got home.

Regardless if you were a bit OTT, it’s great that you went . Did you enjoy it? Did you feel like a little bit of old life was returned to you? That’s how I felt the first time I went out, like I could breathe a bit more. Hope you did too.

Waaaaay too OTT. It's not sustainable to live like this long term.

Pamdemic surely you and dc wash hands on getting home?

As someone who has it now @stardrops007, I don't think you can be too careful. It's horrid and painful to catch this, my nan just died from covid and my grandads in the hospital with it. I will be over sanitising with glee if this goes.

@Wakemeupwhenthisisover

Have you posted before about how your the only one still socially distancing, just the OP in that post kept going on how they can’t for for dinner as you can’t stay 2m away from someone. It just sounds very familiar

@Wakemeupwhenthisisover

I've been for dinner? Just someone here said that the transmission is higher if you don't distance and to stay 2m apart.

I just said I couldn't stay 2m apart from my friend in a restaurant on the same table.

@StormzyInaDCup

As someone who has it now *@stardrops007*, I don't think you can be too careful. It's horrid and painful to catch this, my nan just died from covid and my grandads in the hospital with it. I will be over sanitising with glee if this goes.

@StormzyInaDCup

So sorry to hear this! Hope you're feeling better soon.

@RoseTintedAtuin

Regardless if you were a bit OTT, it’s great that you went . Did you enjoy it? Did you feel like a little bit of old life was returned to you? That’s how I felt the first time I went out, like I could breathe a bit more. Hope you did too.

@RoseTintedAtuin

Oh it was so nice!! Sanitising aside, it felt really normal!

I'm just jelly you feel comfortable enough to go to a restaurant. We live in the States and haven't been anywhere indoors since March. I'd wash my hands 50 times if it meant being able to go out for a nice meal with actual table service.
I use latex gloves at gas pumps, etc and then sanitize after but it's the airborne transmission that seems to be the real problem here. I don't wear a mask while out exercising. I have, however, stopped saying Hello to other cyclists/joggers; I wave my hand at them and turn my head away. It looks anti-social and weird, but these are not normal times we're living in.

Wow! I would assume, if I saw you do all this, that you were maybe at high risk if you caught it so were taking so many precautions. I wouldn't say anything but would definitely think it was unusual.

When I go out (only twice for sit down drinks at a cafe so far) I sanitise on the way in when I write in the track and trace thing, and that is it. The McD drive through I don't sanitise.

When you see how many people go round the shops with their masks under their noses, and/or fiddling with their facemasks and then touching the goods/groceries, or touching the banisters on the stairs, you kind of think what is the point....

But then I am fairly sure we will all get it at some point and am not especially bothered by this - what will be, will be. Probably somewhat skewed by the fact I am in a very low transmission area and work with several people who got it (work related) who are now fine.

I wear a mask to protect others, I sanitise when I enter somewhere if asked to and try my best to keep a distance from others, especially if they look nervous. I try my best not to touch items I will not buy (which has resulted in interesting shopping when I realise so everything I touched into the trolley!!). I do not wash my shopping. At work, I sanitise on the way in and wear a mask until the covid-secure office. I wipe my workstation at the start and end of the day as we hot desk.

I hate sanitiser and wash it off as soon as I can. It doesn't really taste very good either!

No I don't do this. I have been washing my hands when I come in from outside which is additional to the usual after going to the loo and before preparing food. Other than that I haven't given it much thought. I follow the guidelines about meeting up, keeping my distance and wearing masks but that's it. Bought some hand sanitizer in March and haven't really used it.

I've been on buses and trains in the last week for the first time since lockdown and wasn't worried about it.

I don't sanitise at ALL unless the shop forces me to. Hate that stuff, it dries my hands. I just wash my hands when I get home or after the bog. Been out to loads of places. You are definitely verging on OCD, get some help.

* My friend only sanitised before eating, but I noticed she'd touched the chair and other surfaces a lot!!!*

I don’t even do that!

I think that's being a bit OTT yes. Surfaces are not really a big vector for infection - unless someone with COVID had literally just coughed on the object, or coughed on their hand and touched it and then you touched it and straight away touched your face, you're incredibly unlikely to catch it. I have never washed my groceries or deliveries and haven't caught it yet - it doesn't live as long on surfaces as I initially thought

' in a July article in the medical journal The Lancet, Goldman excoriated those conclusions. All those studies that made COVID-19 seem likely to live for days on metal and paper bags were based on unrealistically strong concentrations of the virus. As he explained to me, as many as 100 people would need to sneeze on the same area of a table to mimic some of their experimental conditions. The studies “stacked the deck to get a result that bears no resemblance to the real world," Goldman said.'

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/

@Sheepareawesome

I sanitise on the way in when I write in the track and trace thing*

I've been to several restaurants now and I've never been asked to do this...

I do always pre book online so I assume they've already got my details.

This is bonkers. You would be shocked at me, I don't own sanitiser, go to the shop to buy a snack and open and eat the snack as soon as I'm out the door with the same hands that touched everything in the supermarket. Haven't been ill since pre-lockdown.

@StormzyInaDCup. Oh you poor thing! How far in are you? Any idea where/how you got it? Are you 'vulnerable' or without underlying issues?

I have underlying issues and I'm happily doing as much as I can to avoid getting it for as long as possible!!

Im not eating out, I'm not seeing anyone socially inside and only a couple of times outside. I'm happy in my own company & with friends on the phone/whatsapp etc. I'll
Speak to neighbours & people I see while I'm out walking if they want to say hello etc. But at a distance.

I'm still quarantining or washing shopping- depending on what it is! I have it down to a fine art now, so it doesn't take long & one day I'll feel ok not doing it, but not while numbers are increasing.

I'm back at work & that involves driving someone else in my car for half an hour, twice a day. They sit in the back, we both wear masks, I have the front windows down a couple of inches (not the back as they don't like it). The rest of the day I'm in well ventilated rooms, on my own.

I'm hoping it's enough to prevent getting it for quite some time 🤷🏻‍♀️

People that rely on pub/cafe staff to be hygienic have obviously never worked in a pub or cafe 🤣

My god daughter went back to her job in a Gastro pub when they reopened, she's young & pretty relaxed about getting it, but she could not believe how crap the staff were being re Covid hygiene nor how over crowded the Castro pub management were happy with. Staff still handling glasses by the drinking rim/handling the cutlery, not washing hands after handling used plates/glasses/cutlery etc. She was glad to be out if there, a job she'd previously loved. (She was moving anyway).

Pub/restaurant/cafe staff don't seem to be trained not to handle cups/glasses by the rim these days. Not sure much will have changed since Covid

@stardrops007

I'm glad you enjoyed it & I hope you go again

I think you did well to go out. You'll find your own level with it all. Better over than under cautious 🌷

I think if you've been inside its easy to behave in the way that you have.

I teach, if I sanitised after everytime I touched something my hands would be in an awful condition and I'd never get any work done. I wash my hands with soap and water between lessons, wear a visor (provided by the school) when walking through busy corridors or working close to students and clean the computer and mouse with the provided wipes after use for my colleagues.

Day to day, I use sanitiser when I get in my car after going to the shops/petrol station but I've always done that during flu season, same as I used to do after getting off public transport.

If you go out and about a bit more you should relax, life goes on but it's easy to forget that if you have been quite isolated.