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Original poster

To ask what the most COVID bonkers thing you did about

794 replies

Jay36 · 13/01/2022 21:42

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 😂😭

OP posts:
JesusInTheCabbageVan · 15/01/2022 11:15

@Toanewstart22 I don't know... tbh I think I'm about average. Some people more selfless than me, and a few who are more selfish.

@SummerBluez avoid all other humans? No, I never went that far, but it was something I worried about when I did come into contact with people who were obviously elderly or otherwise vulnerable. I think a lot of people did - it's really not unusual!

zingally · 15/01/2022 11:23

I packed a hospital bag early in lockdown 1. Even typed up a "medical information sheet" about myself, which I printed off and put in the bag.

It feels a bit bonkers now, but I still haven't unpacked the bag! It's still sitting in the spare room.

user313213521 · 15/01/2022 11:29

@zingally

I packed a hospital bag early in lockdown 1. Even typed up a "medical information sheet" about myself, which I printed off and put in the bag.

It feels a bit bonkers now, but I still haven't unpacked the bag! It's still sitting in the spare room.

To be fair this is the sort of thing that can be useful in numerous emergency circumstances - from an accident of your own to needing to evacuate (eg if there was a big house fire nearby and you were advised to leave - it does happen!)
Buzzinwithbez · 15/01/2022 11:51

Made my DH do the shopping and insisted he wash his hands when he came back.

AllKindsOfWrong · 15/01/2022 11:55

I didn't do anything different in lockdown. I never washed shopping, disinfected mail or used hand sanitizer / antibac stuff.
I continued to work and was in and out of the house like a yo-yo.
My Dd on the other hand, antibacced everything, including her car, changed into her clean uniform at work, putting her normal clothes in a tightly knotted plastic bag, then changed from her uniform into yet another set of clean clothes to return home in, which she stripped off at the door, immediately showered, including hair wash and put her uniform and worn clothes straight into the wash. ( She's a nurse and was working on the covid wards )
In the May she got covid and was seriously ill with it in hospital, whereas it seemed to take one look at me before running away screaming.
I don't blame anyone for taking the precautions that they did. They were doing what they thought was the right thing to do at the time.

Buzzinwithbez · 15/01/2022 11:55

The most bonkers thing that happened to me was a cafe worker in a garden centre following me to the toilet and trying to make me sanitise my hands when I'd come out.

She couldn't accept that washing my hands was enough and was worried that I'd touched the bathroom door after washing my hands.

Clarissa76 · 15/01/2022 11:57

The “we did nothing and were proved right” posts remind me of my son learning to cross the road. I’d occasionally chastise him for not looking properly enough and he’s reply that he obviously had looked properly because he had safely crossed the road Hmm Just because a course of action was proved safe in hindsight doesn’t mean it was the sensible or rational one at the time.

liveforsummer · 15/01/2022 12:09

It's totally different to not looking before crossing the road. If you continue to do that you will be very likely to be hit at some point. It's just chance if you don't. If you continue to not clean your shopping it isn't inevitable that you will catch covid (and never was to my mind)

Clarissa76 · 15/01/2022 12:23

@liveforsummer You’ve misunderstood the comparison I’m making.

liveforsummer · 15/01/2022 12:25

I haven't, it's just not a like for like comparison in any way

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 15/01/2022 12:26

The analogy works if you think of the pandemic as a single road-crossing. Yes, they were proved 'right' (well done pat on the back etc, and let's conveniently forget that not everyone who thought that way survived) - but in March 2020, none of us really knew how dangerous it was.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 15/01/2022 12:30

BTW I'm enjoying the bonkers stories on this thread. I think I was always in the middle ground, so I do think 'You loon Grin' when reading some of the stories. But I think it's great that we can all laugh at ourselves - sneering, not so much.

Clarissa76 · 15/01/2022 12:34

@JesusInTheCabbageVan Exactly.

Clarissa76 · 15/01/2022 12:36

I’m enjoying the thread too as a reminder of what a strange time first lockdown was. I think it’s really easy to forget.

Ineke · 15/01/2022 12:38

What’s the betting that there will be a Film coming about all these measures and mistakes.

liveforsummer · 15/01/2022 12:48

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

The analogy works if you think of the pandemic as a single road-crossing. Yes, they were proved 'right' (well done pat on the back etc, and let's conveniently forget that not everyone who thought that way survived) - but in March 2020, none of us really knew how dangerous it was.
The things is we don't wash our shopping for things that we do know can be very dangerous and know as fact live for long times on surfaces. That's why it wasn't rational. Take norovirus for example horrific at best, deadly at worst. Can survive on surfaces for a significant amount of time. We don't have thousands disinfecting their shopping on account of that
Toanewstart22 · 15/01/2022 12:48

@Clarissa76

The “we did nothing and were proved right” posts remind me of my son learning to cross the road. I’d occasionally chastise him for not looking properly enough and he’s reply that he obviously had looked properly because he had safely crossed the road Hmm Just because a course of action was proved safe in hindsight doesn’t mean it was the sensible or rational one at the time.
But there’s no negative to the alternative of not looking Whereas lockdown was the equivalent of looking before you cross BUT at the expense of businesses, education, mental health…. I could go on

So essentially an utterly daft analogy

Clarissa76 · 15/01/2022 12:54

@Toanewstart22 I think the analogy works perfectly, given that the point I’m making is that the fact that a course of action turned out to be safe in hindsight doesn’t prove that following it was a rational decision at the time. If you want to over-extend the analogy, that’s up to you.

I should add that I never washed shopping or whatever. I just don’t think that makes me more rational than the people that did- we knew almost nothing about the virus at the start. It might have been that it was a sensible precaution and now the “bonkers” ones would be the people who didn’t do it. Patting oneself on the back because one got lucky is a bit embarrassing.

Clarissa76 · 15/01/2022 12:57

@Toanewstart22 I also think you’re talking about a different subject. I’m talking about peopw sneering at others who chose to take their own precautions (which is what the thread is about), not lockdowns etc which are imposed on everyone.

AllThePogs · 15/01/2022 13:03

Kate Middleton not wearing her engagement ring because of covid.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/kate-middleton-engagement-ring-prince-william-quarantine-coronavirus-hand-washing-a9436911.html

CovidCurious · 15/01/2022 13:23

@Buzzinwithbez

The most bonkers thing that happened to me was a cafe worker in a garden centre following me to the toilet and trying to make me sanitise my hands when I'd come out.

She couldn't accept that washing my hands was enough and was worried that I'd touched the bathroom door after washing my hands.

Bonkers indeed.

For some reason made me think of the time I went to the loo at a restaurant. There were 3 cubicles and the middle one had been taped off for social distancing purposes. Bonkers enough, but each cubicle had floor to ceiling walls!

Another thing that drives my husband mad is the way restaurant staff cleaned (and still do clean) chairs. The minute someone leaves the table they wipe the seat like mad, as if we can all catch Covid through our clothed arses. What they very rarely do is clean the backs, which everyone touches to pull the chair in and out, or the undersides of the seat which many people hold to move the chair while they are sitting on it.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 15/01/2022 13:23

@Clarissa76

The “we did nothing and were proved right” posts remind me of my son learning to cross the road. I’d occasionally chastise him for not looking properly enough and he’s reply that he obviously had looked properly because he had safely crossed the road Hmm Just because a course of action was proved safe in hindsight doesn’t mean it was the sensible or rational one at the time.
Whereas quarantining post is totally rational?
Whitefire · 15/01/2022 13:32

For some reason made me think of the time I went to the loo at a restaurant. There were 3 cubicles and the middle one had been taped off for social distancing purposes. Bonkers enough, but each cubicle had floor to ceiling walls

I went to one of our local beaches when things first started opening up again. The council had done similar, however this then meant people were queuing into the doorway so actually you ended up closer to people then if the cubicles had all just been in use. Plus as well each cubicle had significantly more people going through it.

MarshaBradyo · 15/01/2022 13:33

Whereas quarantining post is totally rational?

Wasn’t there a stage where we had info re virus surviving for 72 or something hours?

Ok it feels nuts now I agree but I’m pretty sure the messaging was quite different back then

thewhatsit · 15/01/2022 13:38

@Clementinesforsummer

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.
This is so unbelievably sad. How did we get here where a couple can say they never want to see their children and grandchildren again purely because they are scared? I hope they change their minds one day.