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 😂😭

NC for this.

I am a local newspaper reporter.

Pre first lockdown, pre first in-country transmission (ie when only folk who'd been abroad had it) I got a phone call from the news desk - "there's a boy down in [village] got the coronavirus thing. Away and chap his door."

Was unthinkable just a few weeks later.

My parents are still washing their shopping and quarantining post. They are in their 80s and worried (but triple vaxed). During lockdown dm tried to decontaminate the post by microwaving it and set it on fire, apparently a small paper fire in a microwave produces A LOT of smoke . She then did the same with her mobile phone and killed it. She is now banned from using the microwave.

All the OTT CV things I did seem tame in comparison

@Jay36

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 still do this but I am a Care assistant and have been looking after people who have tested positive. It does take me back to the first lockdown but I’m defo more chilled now

I think it's also worth remembering that the changes everyone made, particularly in lockdown one, really significantly reduced transmission. It got R to well below one: cases were rising in hospitals further and further and then 2-3 weeks after "the rules" were introduced the numbers just started dropping.

The hospitals were struggling to manage patients - not necessarily because of the physical number but because of the acuity of the illness - more people needing dialysis then they had machines etc.

There wasn't a good understanding of transmission immediately - people were in fact totally insistent that it wasn't airborne except when aerosolised.

It was interesting because I spent so much time reading papers for my job that I stopped worrying about fomite transmission reasonably early on, but I still don't think things like the 2m distance in supermarkets were a bad thing - that sort of thing will have reduced transmission especially before the base infectivity of the virus increased with the variants.

I wouldn't want to go back and live in that first lockdown again but it really did save lives - even if one vs two walks a day probably didn't.

I used to park an extra half mile from the hospital so I could get some more exercise in on top of a walk. I also had my key worker letter printed out in the car in case I got stopped. And I remember at one point when you were allowed to exercise with one other person, I went on a long bike ride with a friend on a glorious day and we stopped and ate our illicit lunch on a bench in the countryside and feeling both very happy and also guilty. I definitely wish I had a better record of how mad the times were. I tried to keep a diary but I was so tired and working such long hours that I just couldn't muster the energy.

I recall weeping in Tesco after being shouted at by a security guard for standing too close ( in hindsight, he actually walked over to me, so I can't have been that close!)
It really had an end of days feel at the beginning, I didn't know if I would ever be allowed to work again! I work for a counselling service that just told us we couldn't work anymore, which left me trying to support mentally ill people over the phone who were terrified, whilst I too was panicking that we were all going to die but putting on a brave face so as not to worry the children! It was hideous.
Let's just remember who did this to us though, the media and those who profited from people's compliance (government included) and then look at the latest issue they are pushing. Do we really believe the dreaded "unvaccinated" are killing us all? Or will we be a little more levelheaded and realise that civil liberties are more important than attacking those who make a different choice? The government and media want us to blame each other rather than the piss poor management of the health service and resources and will only be held to account when the majority realise this.

My mum used to come over and sit on the path and we would sit on the drive with the gate closed. When I think back to the emotional stress of this on my children it makes me want to cry. My parents in law haven’t seen us since the beginning of the first lock down. We offered to go for a walk with them. To risky. My partner offered to go and sit in the garden alone with them on a summer evening. Nope. This Christmas they posted money for the kids. They said they don’t want to see us again because they are so worried about covid. It’s just so sad. For context were used to see each other once a fortnight, go for dinner/walks just usual family stuff.

I lived in a tiny flat in the centre of a city, with no garden. I was doing a daily walk but was just so desperate to sit outside. I remember finally lying down on the grass in the local park for 15 minutes and feeling like a complete rebel, convinced that everyone around me was looking at me and going to call the police. Where did the whole ‘you can’t be outside unless in constant motion’ madness come from?!

My husband and I also did a work-out in our building’s car park a few times, again just because we wanted to be outside! We got told off by some security guards.

I remember bumping into a school friend in Sainsbury’s and having a quick chat to her as we did our shopping (while maintaining distance). Security guard came over and told us that we weren’t allowed to shop together. We said we weren’t together and had just bumped into each other but he was adamant we separated and made my mate have a head start and wouldn’t let me carry on with my shopping until she was safely in the next aisle. He kept popping his head round the corner of aisles for the rest of the shop to make sure we hadn’t gotten near each other again.

Used antibacterial on any money we received from our customers

@plumpynoo

I recall weeping in Tesco after being shouted at by a security guard for standing too close ( in hindsight, he actually walked over to me, so I can't have been that close!) It really had an end of days feel at the beginning, I didn't know if I would ever be allowed to work again! I work for a counselling service that just told us we couldn't work anymore, which left me trying to support mentally ill people over the phone who were terrified, whilst I too was panicking that we were all going to die but putting on a brave face so as not to worry the children! It was hideous. Let's just remember who did this to us though, the media and those who profited from people's compliance (government included) and then look at the latest issue they are pushing. Do we really believe the dreaded "unvaccinated" are killing us all? Or will we be a little more levelheaded and realise that civil liberties are more important than attacking those who make a different choice? The government and media want us to blame each other rather than the piss poor management of the health service and resources and will only be held to account when the majority realise this.

Amen to this.

I am determined to never treat unvaccinated people differently. (I will however treat a member of our current Cabinet differently if I ever have the misfortune to meet one)

Why are all those who went to such ridiculous extremes so offended that some people maintained a normal existence?

I never washed shopping, rarely wear a mask and have never so much as wiped a trolley. I work in a secondary school, both my kids go to separate settings and husband worked all through. I'm only single jabbed.
Never had covid. Some people just aren't scared of it, don't take it personally if you were/are.

@SummerBluez

Why are all those who went to such ridiculous extremes so offended that some people maintained a normal existence?

I never washed shopping, rarely wear a mask and have never so much as wiped a trolley. I work in a secondary school, both my kids go to separate settings and husband worked all through. I'm only single jabbed.
Never had covid. Some people just aren't scared of it, don't take it personally if you were/are.

Jealousy perhaps? A desire to drag others down? A disdain for anyone trying to carve out a life based on the fact that very very unlikely to be serious of the overwhelming majority?

Out of interest though… how come only single jabbed? Just being nosy

I wonder if those involved in that Derbyshire Police 'NOT ESSENTIAL' Peak District video are cringing about it now?

Some people just aren't scared of it, don't take it personally if you were/are.

I was never particularly scared of it. My anxieties were all around unwittingly passing it to someone vulnerable, but it's great that you were never troubled by that possibility.

@Fudgein

Went out for one walk a day. Drove about half an hour away after my mum died suddenly and was stopped by the police and told I was outwith my local area. To be fair once I explained I was alone, and just needed 10 minutes to scatter some ashes, they reluctantly 'let me' go but told me to hurry up. I remember the sheer panic when they pulled me over of realising I had broken the law. I am an intelligent, law abiding citizen and now I am so bloody angry at how we have all been treated by this government. Telling my sister I couldn't meet her as I had already been out that day. Arranging my mums funeral over facetime as we couldn't meet in person. Horrendous.

I’m so sorry that happened to you.

After being pulled over for speeding (I’ll plead guilty to that one) the cop looked at my licence and said to me ‘you’re a long way from home aren’t you? What are you doing out here?’ There were no movement limits at the time and I was 40 minutes from home! I was drying from the city so maybe he didn’t want my nasty city germs in the area,

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

Some people just aren't scared of it, don't take it personally if you were/are.

I was never particularly scared of it. My anxieties were all around unwittingly passing it to someone vulnerable, but it's great that you were never troubled by that possibility.

You gem.

I had struggled to understand why people were saying that lockdown significantly affected their mental health when mine had been so good but the fear in these responses is almost palpable so I understand much better now.

We were really lucky in that we found lockdown a positive experience for our family but we certainly didn't do many if any of the things in this thread and on the whole avoided any talk of COVID. Bit of "ignorance is bliss" approach.

I'm a social worker so was very involved in covid work but in a "we have a job to do" matter of fact way that I think probably helped.

I had a socially distanced stand off with my 90 year old neighbour. The bin men dropped a bag of food waste all over the middle of the road, terrible mess, right in front of elderly neighbours drive, so I went out to try and scoop it up. She appeared and started picking it up, and I had to back off because she was too close and I really didn’t want to give her COVID. I still feel bad about that one, but she’s pretty fiercely independent anyway.

I've been listening to a podcast that I came to late, started in 2017 - just got to the March 2019 episodes and it really brings home how many unknowns there were. Like echobelly said upthread - it's easy looking back now given what's known, but we had no idea where it was all going. I remember hearing the streets erupt with cheers one Thurs night while i was up a hill with the dog and feeling utterly cynical about it leading to actual change or help for the NHS... That was borne out.

@Toanewstart22 I know it's hard for some people to believe.

[quote JesusInTheCabbageVan]@Toanewstart22 I know it's hard for some people to believe.[/quote]
But I suspect you have no problem believing you’re a gem!

No that never troubled me either. No way to live is it?
Avoid all other humans on the off chance covid could kill them?

I had assembled a medical box with ibuprofen, thermometer etc in it thinking we would all get ill. Then the announcement came from France that ibuprofen increased the risk of death and you should only take paracetamol (obviously turned out to be wrong!) and I went out searching for paracetamol which was obviously sold out everywhere due to people doing the same thing as me.

Nearly broke my back trying to carry a week’s-worth of groceries for a family of 4 home from the big Sainsbury’s, 2 miles away, because we don’t have a car. Because we delivery slots were only for CV people and we were supposed to shop “as infrequently as possible”. So daft in retrospect, but I remember the early newspaper articles with lurid quotes from Italian doctors about dying patients foaming at the mouth as their lungs dissolved.

@Messilia

Took my teenage son grocery shopping with me when the first lockdown came in and everyone was panic buying

Not to help carry it, but in case he needed to fight