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 😂😭

It took a while for my CEV Dad and SM to organise online deliveries so I did their weekly shop for about three weeks.

My Dad bless him being ex navy not only gave me a very specific list which I had to do my best with due to weird shortages, he also gave me a hand drawn floor plan of his local Sainsburys so I could shop as efficiently as possible.

I would then drop the shopping on his doorstep, take enough steps back before they would open the door and we'd have a mildly shouty discussion about quantities and substitutions through our masks.

It never made sense to me about the one person doing a huge shop though - I'd get to the checkout, unload the trolley, then have to rush to bag everything up as queues built up behind me, whereas normally a couple will have one unloading and one packing which halves the time hovering around the cashier. I used to end up a flustered sweaty and apologetic mess fumbling cash and receipts.... I was so glad when they got their online shopping sorted out!!

Went on a walk with my dog and a friend when you could only meet one person outside. I dropped my keys while I was trying to pick up the dog's mess (didn't drop them in the dog mess though!!) and I asked my friend if she could pick up the keys for me. She didn't want to do it for fear of catching Covid!

Another one! Read something about formite transmission being possible on pet's fur. We share a dog with DS so when they brought him over to ours for our turn (doorstep handover) he was put straight in the shower in case he was contaminated!

Left post for 2 days without opening it and then opened the contents, tipped it out, disposed of the envelope, washed my hands, THEN read the letter. It's because I remember it being said that you could catch it from any surface. Later it was said that it stayed on metal for a long time instead of paper. I'm still a bit wary now as I got into the habit!

It was a time when there were a lot of unknowns. We were working on very little information and we did the best we could with the minimal information and advice available.

Great thread! My children got used to me shouting from the hall "don't touch the post, it's in quarantine!" Left it there for about 3 days before going near it. Anti backed door handles, light switches a lot, washed all my shopping-it took ages and was such a faff. Wouldn't let me children press the button st traffic lights! The fear was real!

Its easy to forget how little information there was about both Covid itself and about what restrictions would happen. I invited my ex to stay just before first lockdown because

• It wasn’t clear if children would be able to go between separated parents as usual.
• He lives in a block of flats surrounded by Covid deniers and I didn’t want DD going through the communal areas.
• Was worried he would get Covid when she was there and she would have to isolate with him, he is rubbish having her for long periods and when useless when ill.
• He travelled to nursery with her by bus and I was worried she’d catch Covid.
• Looked like I was going to be a key worker and have to work more hours than usual in a job that can’t be done at home. I wasn’t in the end and was furloughed on full pay for two months before rules for my occupation changed and I did have to do long hours.

DD loved having him to stay. I hated it, though it was a handy reminder of why I ltb. Managed about 2 months of it until he told me to shut my mouth in front of DD one morning when I suggested he could have washed his own supper plates up (I’d been doing the majority of cooking, cleaning and shopping). We had a bit more info about transmission, etc by then so I told him it was time to go home and helped him pack.

My caution over touching country gates faded in the first couple of weeks when the good weather got going because any virus wasn't going to survive long in the UV in April sunshine. Fomite transmission was found to be a weak method of transmission in real world condtions pretty early on.

Took the family on a 6 mile walk along one of my regular running routes where I very rarely see anyone. We had our lunch, clearly on a picnic blanket and I was mortified when two sets of people walked past our illegal sandwiches.

I did increase hand washing in March 2020 (particularly when I had a cold). That habit died and reverted to normal quite early as for over 3 months I only did a supermarket trip every 7-14 days which is not going to sustain any habits.

When DH took multiple walks per day around his work hours I advised him to mix his routes up incase some curtain twitcher recognised him and his pattern. It only took a week to rationalise not to bother fretting about alternating my exercise and the DCs'. It was guidence not law about going out to exercise (and no time limit)
On one exciting run, I parked at the supermarket and had the novelty of running through industrial areas/ town rather than from home. I then did the shopping.

I wish we'd climbed into playgrounds sooner. DS2 was depressed from lack of social stimulation by June 2020. That was when I reached my limit on that stupidity.

My police force made some high-profile news regarding overzealous policing of guidence so I was more cagey because of that, and from reading too much hysteria on MN where it was forbidden to care about anything non-Covid for months. The amount of times I was shouted down and called a granny-killer for speaking basic sense and not toeing the line of inflated rules and precautions...

Sobbed in the middle of Sainsbury's because utter bastards who weren't working twelve hour shifts had bought all the pasta and my two year old wouldn't eat anything else.

Worked in an ICU. (I've been officially free from the NHS for ten days now and a weight has been lifted!)

Tolerated people treating me like a plague carrying rat for having the audacity to work in healthcare.

It's been awful. The clapping didn't help.

Oh and attended scans and being told there were complications completely and utterly alone. Found out I was pregnant a month before lockdown.

Washing shopping.
‘Cooking’ the paper for 10 mins in the oven every day before reading it.

God this thread is both hilarious and depressing 🤯

We lost an awful lot of income right from the outset due to our work / businesses being affected. So I was always more worried about my livelihood and everything I'd worked for potentially being destroyed. than ever giving a shit about hosing down shopping or fretting about going for more than one walk a day

It's absolutely disgusting how the government and the media put the fear of god into people like this 😡

Made DH strip off and shower when he returned from the supermarket. I'd then spend ages cleaning all of the shopping with dettol. Looking back now I think wtf but at the time we didn't know how it was spread.

Oh and getting takeaways and putting them in the oven to kill any germs before we ate them.

‘Cooking’ the paper for 10 mins in the oven every day before reading it.

That's one of the best I've heard

The most COVID bonkers thing I did wasn't through choice- it was forced upon us.

My sister and I would sit, huddled in our coats, masks on, outside a garden room door to visit with our mother, who would be wheeled into the room and placed a good distance away from us.

To this day we don't know if she even recognised us- she'd had a stroke and couldn't answer us. We rebelliously pulled our masks down occasionally to smile at her.

Still better than our brother being told off for touching her hand when he went in at midnight on the night she lay dying to say our last goodbyes (only ONE loved one allowed to say goodbye).

ahhhh and I forgot about all post and non perishables going into the garage for a 3 day quarantine

I made me and DH strip off, literally everything including underwear whenever we got home from work. Had to strip on the door mat (inside) and everything went straight in the wash.
I used to antibac the soles of our work boots too 😂

I used to try and breath as little as possible when I went shopping

Wash the shopping.

Go out walks at midnight so I wouldn't be near other people.

@ILoveHuskies

God this thread is both hilarious and depressing 🤯

We lost an awful lot of income right from the outset due to our work / businesses being affected. So I was always more worried about my livelihood and everything I'd worked for potentially being destroyed. than ever giving a shit about hosing down shopping or fretting about going for more than one walk a day

It's absolutely disgusting how the government and the media put the fear of god into people like this 😡

Exactly the same here. I can only assume that the people on this thread who were hosing down DH / oven baking the newspaper / washing the groceries were either on furlough or in secure jobs.

My income was wiped out overnight and - through no fault of my own - I wasn't eligible for furlough, SEISS or UC. I came within inches of losing the roof over my head.

Anyone who had the headspace for such bonkers tasks should consider themselves very lucky.

DH just reminded me I haven't fully explained the washing of uniform. I had dissolvable bags that I "sourced" from work it was like a proper decontamination procedure to get everything off, into the bag, then into the washing machine 🤣🤣🤣 I was properly bonkers about it.

I'm asthmatic and totally freaked out when covid news started. I pulled my kids out of school a week before they all closed and called in sick. My office closed a week later and I've worked from home ever since. That week I freaked out we had a woman in the team sat opposite us who had been in, coughing and splattering like nothing was wrong. I was so scared that she had covid and was going to give it to me! I wasn't the only one on my team who reacted like this.

@FangsForTheMemory

Washing the shopping. A whole three-week delivery.

This was me too every time I went food shopping

Nothing. Literally nothing.

The vast majority of things on this thread have blown my mind. I carried on as normal, other than trying to juggle home schooling and shift work. I have never given any head space to covid worries, which is odd as I am prone to worrying usually!!

I do blame the government. Without creating this level of fear they would not have achieved such high compliance with the rules (that they themselves ignored). The after effects will be felt for a long time to come, sadly.

Mistakenly invited 100 people for a BYOB booze up in my garden....

Still better than our brother being told off for touching her hand when he went in at midnight on the night she lay dying to say our last goodbyes (only ONE loved one allowed to say goodbye).

That's awful. So sorry you all had to go through that. the lack of humanity on display through all is a disgrace

GiveUsAcoffee it sounds absolutely bonkers now but nicotine has been shown to have an effect on covid infection. I worked in a hospital during the first wave and one of my previously healthy colleagues caught covid and died and I was willing to try anything to protect myself and family. I don’t recommend it though!