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 😂😭

I bought an extra pack of toilet rolls, the emergency supply. They're still in the garage.
Other than that, nothing unusual at all.

My parents wiped down and quarantined food and parcels for 72 hours until very recently.

Also if you were looking for loo roll and tinned soup during the first lockdown it was all in their garage because they panic bought. Sorry.

We got our first online shop from Tesco and had cloths soaked in bleach solution ready to wipe it all down. After about 4 tins of beans and tuna me and DH looked at each other and said fuck this 🤣

A lot of these aren't bonkers, they're bloody sensible and I continue to do them - and point of fact, I have worked in customer-facing role throughout, haven't had covid or a cold throughout:

• open public toilets with sleeve
• use little finger to enter pincode on public machines
• sanitise before touching steering wheel when I've been out
• wash hands after putting dustbins in or out
• wash hands as soon as I get home
• clean door handles regularly
• wear a clean face mask, over my nose and mouth, every day

@Notdoingthis

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

Agree 100pc

This has made me smile - and feel a LOT more normal!

Like a few posters above, though, here's a word on behalf of anyone still doing some of this stuff. It's not always bonkers or pitiful - for a good number, the threat's still very real. If your health means that, vaxed or not, there's a high chance you'll be hospitalised if you get it, then with up to 1 in 10 is it now? infected & mad transmissibility, going shopping or on the bus etc. is genuinely risky, & a quick wipe-down of the mail or avoiding the delivery guy IS the sensible thing to do.

Keep laughing - boy, do we need it! - and, for people like them, please also keep doing the little things that help them live their lives as safely as possible, too. Those endless "why masks?" threads sometimes make me laugh as much as this one (it's like, come back when you've studied epidemiology for 20+ yrs, get what consensus means & have had a chat about liberties with someone trapped in their home for 18 months... btw, and a few years isn't "forever").

PS

I used to disinfect my keys. My KEYS! (And I did have the thought about stroking cats. Sooo glad it wasn't just me).

I took DS washable kiddies bumbag when I did the shopping with only my card and keys in it. I didn't take my handbag and purse because they are leather so I didn't want to bleach them coming home.

I bleached the steering wheel and gearstick of my car after I'd got back from shopping.

Only shopped every 10-14 days, based most meals around dried/tinned food and eeeked out the fresh produce. Bleached the entire shop every time I got home.

Stopped wearing my rings because I was worried that constant application of hand sanitizer would ruin them.

During 1st lock down it was my husband that went shopping and I made him leave his shoes at the door and I'd go and spray the soles with anti bac spray,he was wondering after a few tines why his shoes were turning white so i stopped but I didn't tell him it was me.
I would clean all door handles,light switches,stairs and wipe shopping,also non perishables got to stay in the car boot for days in case covid on it.
I'd hold my breath when meeting people, I didn't get a take away for the first year in case covud be on a pizza box etc

Researched how to treat pneumonia at home in case I, or someone I loved, developed Covid pneumonia and hospitals were full. I deep cleaned the bedrooms so there was no dust and bought a humidifier.

As it turned out I did get Covid really early on and the humidifier was helpful with the shortness of breath. I did not develop pneumonia thankfully. However, I broke the rule I came up with about resting for two weeks after recovery as I'd noticed a pattern between people who developed severe pneumonia and those who were physically active through their illness. And started exercising pretty heavily a few days after I felt fully recovered and developed pleurisy in one lung the next day. Which was the beginning of my 'long Covid' which lasted 9 months or so. I have Omicron now, and I'm itching to exercise, so I just don't learn.

I used to spray the taps with anti bac after I'd washed my hands and in case I contaminated the toilet flush I did that to.I still do it if I've been anywhere

I think the thing to remember, especially the people talking about 'brainwashing', is that of course the rules were extreme at first (and let's face it, the most extreme ones weren't rules, they were just 'helpful' suggestions put out on social media) - when you have a new virus, you don't just assume it's mild and not all that catchy. You have to assume the worst initially (that it could be take minimal contact, that it could transfer from surfaces, that it could have a high fatality rate), and climb down from there as you find out more, and people have in general, which is why we can look back on these and laugh.

Yes, a lot of people were understandably scared, and many do have good reasons to worry personally, but the vast majority of people have a realistic assessment of the risks of COVID, which is that it's not especially dangerous to most of us.

I cleaned every surface I needed to touch at work. Door handles, kettle, water fountain. To be honest I don't think it was crazy. That was a terrifying time. I still avoid touching surfaces that are touched by others a lot.

My Step mum died.
I had long debates over going to the funeral.
I drove there with a letter from the funeral directors open on my passenger seat in case the police stopped me.
At the funeral I didn't hug my dad or my step siblings. We all stood, huddled under umbrellas in the teeth of a gale in our own little bubbles of misery. When the funeral was over we all sort of looked helplessly at each other and went our separate ways.
Of all the things I regret it is not hugging each other.

Oh @JeffVaderneedsatray that is so sad.

I made DH strip to his boxers as he came in the door after work, put his clothes in a carrier bag to be washed on their own, and then get straight in the shower after work . I think it lasted about a week before I came to my senses! He said sons of his colleagues did the same.

I hung my coat on the washing line after going to the supermarket as I read sunshine killed Covid . I’d also get in the shower and wash my hair in case I got Covid in it.

I disinfected my debit card and car keys after each trip to the supermarket.

Made a weak bleach solution and wiped down all the shopping before putting it away. Also washed the shopping bags in the washing machine. Did that for a few months .

Took wipes with me to the shop to wipe the shopping trolley handle and scanner. Only used self scan. Got quite agitated if I had to have a random check and insisted on handing my shopping to the supermarket staff to be scanned so they didn’t handle it. Only just recently stopped doing that!

DH read about a salt water gargle stopping Covid so we got the DC doing that as well. That only lasted a few days!

I still wash my hands after opening post or parcel deliveries careful not to touch anything before getting rid of the packaging. Something I would never have thought of before.

Just nuts when I think back about it. I was certain it was the end of days when the supermarket shelves were empty (terrified me) and bought tons of lentils and tins when they were in stock, most of which are still uneaten as we rarely eat anything from a tin or dry lentils!

We did get Covid anyway.

Scary how many people did the same stupid crazy crap

I never did any of the excessive cleaning, never quarantined my post or other deliveries.

I did, however, find my rebellious streak when all of the utter bollocks about sitting on park benches was being spouted. They weren't taped off here so right from the very first lockdown I would sit on them reading my book and eating bits of food.

I did wonder whether some arse would be twatty enough to call the police on me. I was sadly disappointed though as nobody paid me the slightest bit of attention. Ah well!!

@Echobelly

I think the thing to remember, especially the people talking about 'brainwashing', is that of course the rules were extreme at first (and let's face it, the most extreme ones weren't rules, they were just 'helpful' suggestions put out on social media) - when you have a new virus, you don't just assume it's mild and not all that catchy. You have to assume the worst initially (that it could be take minimal contact, that it could transfer from surfaces, that it could have a high fatality rate), and climb down from there as you find out more, and people have in general, which is why we can look back on these and laugh.

Yes, a lot of people were understandably scared, and many do have good reasons to worry personally, but the vast majority of people have a realistic assessment of the risks of COVID, which is that it's not especially dangerous to most of us.

Yes this ^

If there was a brand new deadly virus (for example something like Ebola) that started spreading rapidly tomorrow some of these measures would make sense until we had a clearer picture of the way that the virus spreads, the risk to individuals and to the health service.

Another new virus could spread primarily through fomite/surface transmission and depending on the level of severity of the infection then measures like wiping down groceries or showering after visiting busy places would make total sense. In fact cases of viruses like flu and norovirus went down massively when everyone was taking these precautions because surface transmission is a more common mode of transmission for those viruses.

Set pantry items in a "quarantine" area for three days, and wiped down all packaged cold foods with antiseptic wipes. Fresh produce was washed thoroughly and immediately (but that's pretty normal). Disinfected door knobs. However, at that point, we had no idea how long the virus could live on a non-porous surface, so an excess of caution still doesn't seem too bonkers to me.

A bit later on, the MOST bonkers thing I did (was this just a USA issue?) was when a woman in a shop got right up on me and began berating me for wearing a mask, I lied my arse off, told her that I had COVID, that I had no one to shop for me, but if it would make her feel better, I would take off my mask and lick her damned face. She backed off very quickly. Thank goodness!

I did all these things, spraying my post and putting it in the sun to sterilise, wiping down shopping, stripping off outer clothes and having a shower immediately on return from the shops. I do still hold my breath when walking close by people sometimes. I took all my rings off, sprayed everything, surfaces etc,. The hardest thing for me was when my DD, who was travelling at the time and was in New Zealand, during the first lock down, scame home unexpectedly to surprise me in August 2020. She walked in the back garden gate and I nearly broke down being too scared, unsure of whether we could hug or not, I hadn’t seen her for over a year.
It was a scary time, no data, no vaccines, high death stats. No Meds. No PPE, no tests.

Let’s hope that we will be better prepared for the next one!

Kidnapped my poor mother from London and made her down to the seaside to live with me - then wouldn’t let her or any of us out unless in the garden for 6 months - went to the beach twice with the kids but the week of anxiety afterwards wasn’t worth it. Had EVERYTHING delivered, then washed it all. I was totally bonkers.
But my friend made her husband strip to his pants on the porch when he got back from work, clothes had to stay there for 48hrs, and she had the shower running so he didn’t touch anything. 🤣

Do you mean better recovery if inactive?
I expected to get Covid badly due to immune compromised health conditions and being overweight - I literally went to bed and stayed there for 14 days and I was fairly mild (pre vaccine) I wonder if that helped.

Most bonkers thing I did was a tonne of decorating and gardening. There was bugger all to do at weekends during lockdown, apart from that and get smashed on wine in the garden.

I admit to putting all of my shopping in the bath and using the shower to clean it before it moved into the kitchen. Anything that couldn't be washed with soap and water would be quarantined in the hall for a few days and then wiped down with dettol wipes.

I also joined a 'car club'. I have a driving license but no car (I don't need a car). However, i figured that in the event of the city becoming over run with the plague, or mass civil unrest I would need quick access to a vehicle to escape. Therefore I joined the car club 😂

Staying home all day and waiting for DP to get home so we could all go for our one daily walk at once.

Constantly antibacing our hands if we were in a shop.

Making DP strip off, put his clothes in the washer and go for a shower as soon as he got in from work without touching anything 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Messaging family any time I saw loo roll in a shop to check they could get some or had some.

Washed my clothes and had a shower as soon as I got home from work though I did work in a supermarket. That's it though