To ask what the most COVID bonkers thing you did about

[Jay36]

First off this is not a COVID denier thread.

But I’m wondering what was the weird things you did at the start of the pandemic because you were worried about CV. I’ll go first;

Left my shoes outside the house as was worried about bringing the virus ‘in’ in case someone had coughed on the pavement !

Bleached the door handles daily.

Feel like I was a bit crazy now 😂😭

Washing shopping.
Shielding.
Anitbac for after touching gates when walking.

Bleached the door handles.
Wore mask, hat and safety goggles shopping.
Stripped clothes off and showered after shopping.
This was in lockdown #1.
By lockdown #2 I was eating sandwiches without sanitising my hands. I did actually go a bit bonkers. Formite transmission wasn't dismissed at that point though.

Right at the beginning when it was only known to be in mainland China, I went to a work meeting - when I found out one of the other attendees had recently been in Hong Kong I burst into tears and left. In my defence, I was about 11 weeks pregnant by some miracle, following a missed miscarriage and subsequent blocked Fallopian tube and infertility diagnosis, and insanely anxious. DC is now nearly 18 months

Measured (to the exact cm) the distance between mine and my sister's chairs when she came to visit me in the garden. Then left her coffee cup outside until the next day incase her germs were on it

Definitely went a little crazy

@HelloViroids yay glad you had a healthy pregnancy in the end and congrats 🥳

DS2 was born mid-March 2020 and in the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy DH absolutely wouldn't let me have ice in my water (which I so desperately needed!!!) and insisted anything I drink be room temperature because of something "they" had said about cold drinks and increased covid risks!!!! I bring it up often and he tells me he was just looking out for us!

Omg what a great thread, I love thinking about all the mental stuff we did 🙈

We live in a seaside town, 5 mins in the car we would be at the beach. But we didn't go for the entire first lockdown because we were all told not to drive!! It is a little bit far to walk as we had a just 2 year old so we never went to the beach for months.

Wouldn't let let my daughter touch anything while out walking in the deserted woods behind our house in case covid was on it.

Just seems absolutely mad now. It's really sad actually.

Bought a Dettol spray and went around the house every day spraying every door handle. I refused to go for walks in places where the paths were narrow and we might have to pass people.

These were in the first lockdown only and they were about the only things I did that I consider really OTT now. But generally the whole time was crazy and there was such a massive culture of fear.

I pickled carrots in leftover gherkin juice in case the supermarkets ran out of veg

Held my breath any time I had to walk past someone ... in the park ... outside... a considerable distance away from them ... 🤣🤣

Withdrew a few hundred in cash because I read that VISA payments might crash

Crossed the street if I saw someone way in the distance on the same side as me.

Washing my shopping, making anyone who had been out take all their clothes off and have a shower before they could do anything (I created a ‘decontamination zone’ in the utility!!), bleaching door handles/remote control/phones, took all my jewellery off as I heard the virus could get caught in them! In my defence I have health anxiety and was also 30+ weeks pregnant!

Bought 4x crappy Virus shield snood/face mask things off the internet for 20quid. They are crap and very uncomfortable, never used them; hopefully they've made their millions and stopped making them now

My child's nursery stopped people pressing the buzzer to let them know you're there as 'they couldn't guarantee the cleanliness of the button'. Still don't use it now. I've always thought this was stupid and ott...

Make DH take off all his clothes when he'd been out teaching sport and wash them immediately.

To be fair I've kept it up because he doesn't teach every day and otherwise his sports clothes smell in the laundry bag! But I was insistent he stripped as soon as he walked through the door. I'm now a little more chilled!

Loads.

Bleached the kitchen surfaces before every meal. Bathroom and door handles bleached daily.

Stripped off in the hall after visiting the supermarket and showered immediately.

Went for our daily walk at 7.30am to avoid other people.

Quarantined all post/parcels for 72 hours.

Wiped down groceries.

It sounds bonkers now. But I was so worried. I’m a single parent and I thought it would be very traumatic for my DCs to see me very ill so I wanted to avoid that if possible.

Now.. I work in primary education and am far more relaxed!

Panicked about touching pump at petrol. Made sure partner wore gloves and didnt touch gave and sanitised.

Kept the car windows closed in case I breathed it in from the air!

Crossed the road to walk on the opposite pavement if somebody was walking along my current stretch of pavement!

So weird isn’t it! Even just the concept of a ‘daily walk’ remember telling people ‘I can’t meet for a walk as have already been out for my daily walk today’

DH is a Doctor and he showered as soon as he came home and left all his clothes in a ‘contamination bag’

What a mental time

I made everyone decontaminate as soon as they got home. Shoes left in the porch, clothes in the washer with Dettol laundry sanitiser and straight in the shower. One time I had to go to hospital for a minor injury and I threw my shoes away when I got home because I thought it was more likely the hospital floor could have Covid germs on it. And I’m sorry to say my mum and I refused to attend her sisters funeral because we were scared of catching Covid.

Me and DH both worked throughout (and without masks at first) so never any extreme measures.

I do remember going for an outdoor walk with my mum and us both wearing masks though at one point

First lockdown:

• the one and only time I went to the supermarket, I stripped off as soon as I got home, boil washed my clothes and got straight in the shower. Even washed my hair.
• made DH do the same every time he came home from work for weeks, and sprayed anywhere he might have touched on his way to the shower
• the first time I went to M&S as things eased a few months later I made my daughter sit in the trolley (it was a squeeze) and told her constantly to absolutely not touch anything. Poor kid.
• my random phobias came back (number 13, for example), probably sparked by the general sense of unease.

The fear factor really got me. I'm usually totally rational. The fact that it got to me that badly is a really bad sign.

I'm fine now, can look back at my behaviour and laugh.

Worried about driving everyday to see my Dad in a hospice for 5 weeks when the motorway signs said 'stay at home'