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?

Very OTT. I am on the shielding list and have been out lots of times. There is no need to sanitise that much.

OTT. In your scenario, I’d have sanitised going into the restaurant and that’s it.

I’m certainly not, MIGHT wash my hands one extra time a day.

Taking your own knife and fork is ridiculous.

I don’t see any harm in being cautious. You probably didn’t need to wash your clothes or take your own knife and fork but as one of our top politicians said yesterday (not in UK) ‘If you can remember how many times you’ve washed and sanitised your hands today then you haven’t done it enough’

Sanitising hands and washing hands when out and about is one of the top things that can be done to prevent spread.

@Frazzled13

I took my own knife and fork!

This is OTT

Agreed. Little point taking own knife and fork if you eat their food off of their plates and sit at their tables in their chairs etc etc.

PP are right, I think, that if you don't touch your face too much you should be OK.

FWIW I always sanitise when I enter somewhere and when I leave. Whenever I pass sanitiser I also use it. I wear my mask going into places including cafes and restaurants and only take it off when I am seated. I wash my hands regularly because hygiene anyway. Tbh I owned hand sanitiser before covid.

You dont need to worry about sanitising as well as washing hands. Sanitiser is for when hand washing is not available i.e. when youre out without access to washroom. Washing hands properly is just as good if not better.

I'm not living like that no. I'm not high risk and neither is anyone in my immediate family which maybe why I'm more relaxed.

I wash my hands when I get home from anywhere but have always done that.
Much prefer hand washing to sanitiser but will use if that's the only option eg at the park.

@Nottherealslimshady

How would you feel if you'd ran out of sanitiser and couldn't use it after touching the parking meter?*

I didn't touch the parking meter I used a wipe, but OMG this would be an absolute nightmare for me to be honest.

There is definitely harm is being over cautious. Becoming OCD is a harm....

Mental health is just as important as physical health.

Way way over the top.

You took your own knife and fork ??

I think (in the nicest possible way) you need some help.

I wash my hands (with soap and water) as soon as I get in to work, and when I get home from work, and the usual - before preparing food , after using cleaning products, after I've been to the toilet etc I use hand sanitiser at the train station before and after being in the train, and when I go in and out of shops. I've only eaten out a couple of times and hand sanitised (once) before eating.
I avoid pressing the button for the train door or a pedestrian crossing .
I wash masks and underwear every day, and other clothes as required.

I also wipe down the table with my own dettol wipes and wipe the cup (and after seeing how Costa handle a cup when serving up I will continue to do so!) I am going out and enjoying life. I figure being over cautious won't harm but the opposite may. I don't wash clothes after use but my sister in law insists her family do. Now cases are rising again, no reason not to be careful!

Well, it sounds like you have a bit of a problem here. Are you an anxious person generally or is this purely a Covid thing?

I wash my hands after using the toilet and that’s it

No sanitiser, no cutlery from home.

I haven’t eaten out of the house yet but when I do, I will just do what I normally do

Sit, order and eat

Taking your own knife and fork and sanitising as often as you have is OTT, and I’m very cautious and quite anxious.

As PP said, if you’re drinking out of the glass there’s no point sanitising every time you touch it. And you’re eating off their plates, which isn’t really different from using their cutlery, unless they have help yourself cutlery trays, where you don’t know who has rummaged through it before you.

You don’t need to sanitise every time you touch something, just avoid touching your face.

Surfaces are one of the least likely ways to become infected, so that much sanitising and hand washing is way over the top and won't do anything to reduce your infection risk.

This is a good read summarising the current state of knowledge on transmission: elemental.medium.com/the-most-likely-way-youll-get-infected-with-covid-19-30430384e5a5

You’re being ott.

We've been very careful as DD4 was on the shielding list, but I think taking knives and forks to restaurants is going too far. It doesn't make any sense when you are using their plates and glasses.

I do sanatise after parking meters if I don't have gloves; I've done that for a couple of years after being behind a man who sneezed all over the meter while getting his ticket.

I'd have sanatised after once sat down after entering the restaurant and then after leaving.

I’m pretty relaxed. I wear a mask and sanitise where socially expected (in the office, going into shops and restaurants). I do it to be seen to be doing it, not because I feel it is necessary. I’m worried about the long term effects on on our mental health and immune systems of all this obsessive cleaning.

@iloverock

Way way over the top.

You took your own knife and fork ??

I think (in the nicest possible way) you need some help.

Yes, I did.

I had to get a couple of trains yesterday, so I sanitised my hands after touching the ticket machine and the train door buttons (gross, touched by lots of people) and then washed them when I reached the place I'd taken myself for lunch. I didn't sanitise any time during or before the food, and I definitely didn't take my own cutlery. I wash my hands whenever I get anywhere new - when I get to work, when I get home etc, and if I have to touch anything high traffic I would sanitise them if I couldn't wash, but I'm not going to panic if I can't.

I get the fear at the moment - it's very easy to feel like the world is suddenly especially dangerous and every surface is a threat, and it's also very easy to tip over into obsession and letting it rule your life. Maybe see if you could find an app or podcast that helps with soothing anxiety or obsessive thoughts - you're not wrong to be worried about germs to an extent and I don't want to minimise a certain amount of legitimate concern, but it sounds like it's gone a little far for you.

We went for a coffee this morning. I used the hand sanitizer that the restaurant placed on the table several times. Not because I’m cautious but because it smelled strongly of whisky.
I could definitely get used to the table service now being used in many restaurants. Very European and far more civilised.
My only gripe this morning was the woman sitting opposite us kept staring at me, no idea who she was but it was a bit unnerving.

And there can actually be a lot of harm from being over cautious if it’s causing a lot of anxiety and distress if you can’t follow those rituals.

Washing your hands an extra time or to does no one any harm. But obsessively sanitising every time you touch anything is verging into disordered territory

Yes this sounds completely over the top, to the point I think you might need some real help with your anxiety. The risk of surface transmission is really minimal, unless you’re putting your fingers directly in your mouth or up your nose after touching things you really don’t need to to worry (and even then it would unlikely) Im pregnant and asthmatic and Im no where near that over the top.

I think that the first couple of times you venture into what was previously normal - using parking meters, going into a cafe, etc most people do repeatedly sanitise and wash hands. I know I did. That over-zealousness does tend to wear off as you get into the way of the way things are now.

It’s about finding a reasonable balance between sanitising the skin off your hands and leaving yourself vulnerable. I do think it makes sense to cover hands or clean after touching something like a parking meter or petrol pump which isn’t going to be cleaned very often and is touched by many people.