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 😂😭

Queueing up outside the supermarket for hours and taking a suitcase to fill with whatever they had left on the shelves, I think we still have the tins of sardines!

We stocked up on so much food we had to organise it via a spreadsheet with dates etc.

@furbabymama87

A friend of mine was scared to take her kids the park in case there was covid on the grass. In fact she didn't go over the door for about 9 weeks.

Her poor children

I often felt sad for the children of those mumsnetters that seemed paralysed with fear, and wondered how the hell they were coping in the environment.

I played down to my children. When lockdown came and just said… “pain in the arse but we’ll make it work”. We went out at least once a day, mostly more actually

They never saw me washing down shopping, frantically washing my hands, stopping them from seeing our very small family etc.

I said we are fit and healthy and sadly it’s yet another illness that the vulnerable are vulnerable to. I said I thought it was an over reaction and, as such, we would go out more than once and we would see their aunt and uncle and their cousins.

No regrets. None of us got it.
We have emerged happy and healthy - on all counts

I’d do exactly the same again

Has anyone said used cheese instead of milk in coffee? That was an actual reply to someone who asked whether it would be ok to just buy milk at the shops.

[quote AllThePogs]@00100001 The government were sending texts telling people not to go in their garden and saying they could sit by an open window. People were also told to pack a bag in case they had to go into hospital. Getting those kinds of daily texts was going to scare people silly.[/quote]
My MIL is still too scared to sit in the garden. She has brain damage and can't communicate what her fears are but since lockdown 1 she has been terrified of being outside. She used to love her garden.

@IfIHadAHeart

I don’t think those of us who didn’t do any of the things mentioned on this thread have “forgotten what it was like”. I just don’t think this thread is representative of the majority. I don’t know anyone in real life who went on like that, although the OTT reactions were all over MN at the time.

As I’ve said already, I get it. The government would not have achieved such widespread compliance without a (un)healthy dose of fear. But the majority of us quietly complied without the need to bleach shopping and bake newspapers. That was never a proportionate response to the risk.

That's easy to say in retrospect but if you were one of the seriously ill or hospitalised in the first lockdown, or one of those who saw your husband/wife/sister/brother go from a seemingly healthy 40/50/60 something to a corpse in the course of a couple of weeks, then yeah you had every reason to be scared. There was so much we didnt know - about how it spread, about how to treat it - the symptoms werent all known or at least recognised in the uk, virtually no testing. The news was terrible, doctors dying, nurses dying, care homes being decimated, people being left with no medical care unless their lips started turning blue (I was one of these do yes it did happen). People had good reason to be scared.

Yeah, I agree that the extreme reactions recounted here are not representative of the majority.

Although in retrospect - the most COVID bonkers thing I did was obey the guidance/rules not to let my children into the closed off play park in the first lockdown. In years to come it will be fascinating to study the collective largescale obedience of the population.

Washed all the shopping when we got home,walked the dogs at stupid o clock in the morning on the open forest in middle of nowhere incase we might see some one

Foot bath at door
Washed clothes in v hot wash !
Ironed and tumble dried masks
Wiped down shopping.
DH was wearing my bright pink balaclava into the shops on a few occasions
We bought a fire pit and we’d be sat with our one designated friend -drinking a beer in the garden December 1 degree haha.

Although I don’t regret it, as we had no idea wtf was happening ,did we?
Remember when they weren’t sure facemasks would help?
Or don’t take aspirin?

We still wipe the door handles down etc
And we still wear clean masks- not rando lying around ones.

Debated buying a crossbow and bow and arrow in case I needed to hunt for food. Genuinely.

@IfIHadAHeart

I don’t think those of us who didn’t do any of the things mentioned on this thread have “forgotten what it was like”. I just don’t think this thread is representative of the majority. I don’t know anyone in real life who went on like that, although the OTT reactions were all over MN at the time.

As I’ve said already, I get it. The government would not have achieved such widespread compliance without a (un)healthy dose of fear. But the majority of us quietly complied without the need to bleach shopping and bake newspapers. That was never a proportionate response to the risk.

Absolutely. I did the whole "stay home apart from exercise" thing which was shit. But it wouldn't even have occured to me to wash shopping and quarantine my post. My mum caught Covid in April 2020 (works in a hospital) and she was fine so I had early experience of it. I was never scared, at any point, for myself and my loved ones.

This week is the FIRST week my mum didn’t wash her food shop when it was delivered.

@SilkyDressingGown

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

I still do that now to be honest. There are people wearing masks outside who still stop and turn away - and this isn't even necessarily when I'm being a "virus shedding jogger" it has happened when I am walking too, so if I can cross the road safely, I do.

I did clean the door handles a few times in the very early days. And to get round the "daily walk" thing, I'd go out eg for a run. and then I'd go for a walk and label it as "long way round to shops" (I did in fact go into the shops if there was no queue).

Washing all the shopping. I done a big shop the other day and laughed at myself about it.
Spraying everything and anything with dettol.
Dd went through a phrase of trying to keep the cat in, incase someone stroked her and past germs on.

* The news was terrible, doctors dying, nurses dying, care homes being decimated, people being left with no medical care unless their lips started turning blue (I was one of these do yes it did happen). People had good reason to be scared.*

@Porcupineintherough

You see I kept on hearing…. For the vast vast overwhelming majority - they will get mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.

I guess it what’s you choose to focus on
And I’m eternally I always focus on the positive and light

We learnt quite early on though about the risk factors. In April/May we knew its survival rate was well over 99% for most people, we were understanding more about how it spread and that outside was the safest place to be..

Yet, one of the nicest springs and summers ever the councils decided to close parks and tell people they could only go out once and not meet people outside.

I was terrified of breaking the one walk rule in case we actually lost this and were made to literally stay at home apart from essential work and shopping as we were seeing in other places

Matt Hancock threatened that at one point didn't he? I don't know if it was because too many people were daring to drive to beauty spots for walks. I had a turbotrainer for my bike in the garage that I bought when I was worried that we might have Italy-style restrictions and I wouldn't be able to go for a run.

@Notdoingthis

This thread is scary. People are so willing to be brainwashed.

Who was brainwashed? I weren't brainwashed I was doing what I thought was needed to keep my dc safe and now laugh at the ridiculous lengths I went to.

Wiped down all the shopping and parcels that entered the house, put parcel items in a big plastic box for a whole day before using further.
Using mapping software to map exactly 3 mile diameter round my house, printed out as proof if ever questioned and didn't take one step over those 3 miles.

Do you think youd have been focusing on that if you'd been in bed with a whole load of inexplicable symptoms and struggling to breathe though @Toanewstart22? And where were you getting your positive news reports at the beginning of April 2020? That's a serious question btw.

Stripped off clothes and showered after going to Tesco's

Quarantined post outside the house for 2 days

Who was brainwashed? I weren't brainwashed I was doing what I thought was needed to keep my dc safe and now laugh at the ridiculous lengths I went to.

Of course you were brainwashed. You had been "nudged" into thinking that your children were at risk from this virus, when they probably weren't. They were far more at risk from the adverse effects from the campaign of terror.

If you're laughing at it now, I'm guessing that they are not CEV or similar?

Having my first baby in the 1st pandemic. Had severe PND. The MH midwives advised me to see my mum even though it was against the rules and she sees up to 40 patients a day. I felt so alone but didn't want to risk the baby. Wish I bloody had now.

Stayed in our village (house and office there) from March 23rd until the end of May when it was half term. None of us went outside the village postcode for over two months.

@Nidan2Sandan

We learnt quite early on though about the risk factors. In April/May we knew its survival rate was well over 99% for most people, we were understanding more about how it spread and that outside was the safest place to be..

Yet, one of the nicest springs and summers ever the councils decided to close parks and tell people they could only go out once and not meet people outside.

And I see these overzealous councils and police forces as just as culpable for spreading this fear as the diabolical government.