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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
gemsgv · 15/01/2022 19:15

I was never scared of it. Went to work throughout which was normal apart from a few stickers on the floor etc. Was bored silly of the whole thing after 3-4 weeks. I don't watch TV (apart from netflix)

to me, all of the things people were doing were irrational. Things that might make a tiny difference to something that's highly unlikely to have a serious effect on you.

I don't know if i've had covid. I don't care really. I've never done a test

The things people are talking about in this thread looked just as stupid to be at the time as people are finding them now with hindsight

I would have happily have gone to a crowded concert at any point.

To me having fear of covid is akin to walking around worried that you might have a heart attack. The risk is there and it will be happening to someone, somewhere but it's just irrational to think like that.

MsInconspicuous · 15/01/2022 19:32

These comments make me really sad actually... What a waste of a couple of years!!

Northernsoullover · 15/01/2022 19:44

@gemsgv

I was never scared of it. Went to work throughout which was normal apart from a few stickers on the floor etc. Was bored silly of the whole thing after 3-4 weeks. I don't watch TV (apart from netflix)

to me, all of the things people were doing were irrational. Things that might make a tiny difference to something that's highly unlikely to have a serious effect on you.

I don't know if i've had covid. I don't care really. I've never done a test

The things people are talking about in this thread looked just as stupid to be at the time as people are finding them now with hindsight

I would have happily have gone to a crowded concert at any point.

To me having fear of covid is akin to walking around worried that you might have a heart attack. The risk is there and it will be happening to someone, somewhere but it's just irrational to think like that.

Well you would have been a bit of a fool to have gone to a crowded concert tbh. I'd do it now. We were dealing with unknowns. I should point out that despite me doing laughable batshit things (with hindsight) I work in public health and am very much an amateur epidemiologist. By amateur I mean I studied it but only as part of a wider degree. Even my professors exercised caution at the time because it being a novel virus we simply didn't have the data.
SummerBluez · 15/01/2022 19:52

@Northernsoullover
Why would they have been a fool to go to a crowded concert? Chances are they wouldn't catch it and even if they did it's overwhelmingly likely they'd be absolutely fine.
I agree with other posters, I don't know where people were getting this "terrifyingly messaging." We were told all along it was would be a mild illness for most.

SummerBluez · 15/01/2022 19:52

*Terrifying not terrifyingly

Whitefire · 15/01/2022 20:02

I think the issue was that we were told we would kill everyone else, the "you don't know you have it, but you can still spread it" era. Wasn't there one particular campaign aimed at older teenagers that told them they could be responsible for killing their grandparents?

So when people cottoned on that their personal risk was maybe low they had to ramp up the fear elsewhere.

timestheyarechanging · 15/01/2022 20:23

Did nothing other than 'the rules'. Masks etc.
My adult kids got Covid last Nov 2020) and were mildly ill, but I didn't. I tested positive late nov 2021 as did my partner. He ended up in intensive care. I didn't. He thankfully now ok. Both fully vaccinated.
My daughter worked in a cat b prison throughout and men were testing positive when their cell mates were not.

Minfilia · 15/01/2022 20:34

My neighbour was gloriously batshit Grin she took her cocker spaniel for TWO walks a day instead of one… however, she would get changed for her illicit second walk and would don a massive hat and sunglasses, shuffling along with her head down in case anyone recognised her we all did

Friends wife was an ICU nurse on the covid ward; she stripped to her undies when she got back from work in their garage, and shoved her clothes in the washer.

Only problem is her husband forgot to leave her the side door unlocked so she had to run starkers to the front door and bang on it to wake him up Grin

PossiblyDreaming · 15/01/2022 21:43

My dsis went (and still is) ridiculously OTT about it. She didn’t leave her house or garden for over 6 months, despite no one in her family being vulnerable. Her dd was 2 when it started and after 6 months in the house and garden she had forgotten how to run. Dsis tested positive in November and isolated from the family despite still exclusively breastfeeding her 4mo. Her dh cut a sort of gloryhole flap in their bedroom door and would bring and hold the baby to the flap so dsis could flop her tit through it to breastfeed without worrying about breathing on anyone. Both her and her dh were previously very normal, sensible people but this whole thing has sent them absolutely crackers. Everyone has tried to speak to them about how OTT they’re being but they just think anyone not acting like them is being grossly irresponsible. It’s bizarre and really sad.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 15/01/2022 21:50

@Northernsoullover we had the data, it was clear from the beginning that Covid was mainly an issue for the elderly/CEV.

MiddleAgedKick · 15/01/2022 21:55

All these things do seem quite bonkers in hindsight.

I remember being heavily pregnant when there was that awful ebola pandemic. When colleagues came back from affected countries I genuinely was scared! But, with reason tbf. The survival rate for pregnant women was something like 1-10% and the survival rate for unborn babies was 0%. People did think I was mad to be concerned. Probably the same people yelling at neighbours for going on two walks a day during covid lockdown! It just didn't seem likely to them that a virus would ever bother us over here in the west.

Also, I was remembering the swine flu thing and having a bad cough, having to stay off work for a week etc. Nobody took that seriously at all. We weren't told to stay in or get shopping delivered etc when we had possible symptoms. Just don't go into the office as a precaution.

While it's nuts to think how very seriously we took everything with covid, it also makes me think how weird it is that we didn't take other pandemics / epidemics seriously at all!

And to answer the op, I think the stupidest thing I did was to worry about stopping for a sit down at the park. At the time, we were told we weren't allowed to stop if we were out for a walk. Also, trying to only go for an hour long walk a day OR a run. Can't believe I abided by that. How stupid!

My kids really enjoyed walking during lockdown though, which was the only upside. They couldn't play at parks or anything, so a walk was their only entertainment!

Cantthinkofausername2022 · 15/01/2022 22:33

I remember our door bell rang I looked out our living room window and saw a delivery guy at our door with a parcel (I can’t for the life of me remember what I had ordered?!)
I opened the sitting room window to tell him it’s ok and he can leave the parcel on the porch, he walked towards me and placed it on our windowsill where it was wobbling so I grabbed it and brought the parcel through the window
Shortly afterwards I had a full blown panic attack and then another when my husband returned home and I told him what happened
In fairness he comforted me as best he could but I could tell he was like wtf?! At the time though I genuinely thought I had allowed the virus in and we would end up on ventilators
As ridiculous as this all sounds to me now at the time I really believed it to be the case

shinynewapple22 · 15/01/2022 23:05

That's really sad @Clementinesforsummer

I have a friend, mid 50s, who lives with her elderly mother who is housebound . Aside from medical appointments she has not left the house since March 2020. Still quarantining deliveries and is really upset that the delivery people are no longer wearing masks as a matter of course .

I'm not sure if she will ever recover from this .

Flowersandhearts · 15/01/2022 23:08

@timestheyarechanging

Did nothing other than 'the rules'. Masks etc. My adult kids got Covid last Nov 2020) and were mildly ill, but I didn't. I tested positive late nov 2021 as did my partner. He ended up in intensive care. I didn't. He thankfully now ok. Both fully vaccinated. My daughter worked in a cat b prison throughout and men were testing positive when their cell mates were not.
I'm sorry to hear about your partner and hope he's recovering okay now. Did he have Omicron or Delta? (feel free not to answer if you don't want to).
shinynewapple22 · 15/01/2022 23:11

@SummerBluez I don't think it's that people who went to extremes are offended that others continued to live their normal routines , but that on a thread for people to gently laugh at themselves for the slightly over the top way they may have behaved in a most difficult time, they have been repeatedly mocked for their actions by others coming over very superior that they didn't get caught up in the fear . A lot of these posts have been sneery and unkind and I think not in the spirit of the thread .

sausagerole · 15/01/2022 23:28

Reading these brings back so many memories.

I was heavily pregnant and gave birth during the first lockdown. I feel really relieved I didn't know then what we know now about the increased risk to pregnant women, particularly those who are unvaccinated (there was obviously no vaccine at that time and whilst we knew something about the increased risk, we know much more now). It was a very anxious time, but I think it would have been much worse had I had that level of fear to deal with.

catgirl1976 · 15/01/2022 23:32

We washed all the shopping

And wore masks when we went outside for walks and crossed the road if people were on the pavement

DH did the shopping in a full respirator mask

Mrsfrumble · 15/01/2022 23:37

[quote shinynewapple22]@SummerBluez I don't think it's that people who went to extremes are offended that others continued to live their normal routines , but that on a thread for people to gently laugh at themselves for the slightly over the top way they may have behaved in a most difficult time, they have been repeatedly mocked for their actions by others coming over very superior that they didn't get caught up in the fear . A lot of these posts have been sneery and unkind and I think not in the spirit of the thread . [/quote]
^^ Yes. In retrospect, I should have gone to Sainsbury’s whenever I wanted (although queuing to get in was a pain in the arse). Clearly the “once a week” instruction was unrealistic for families without a car. But I was genuinely terrified by the mental image of someone’s liquified lungs foaming out of their mouth as they took their dying breaths. Does anyone else remember that article? Or did it some weird, lockdown-induced hallucination?

Mrsfrumble · 15/01/2022 23:38

I did not wash / disinfect the shopping when I got home though. I was too knackered from carrying it!

LouBan · 16/01/2022 00:22

When I brought shopping home I would wipe down the shopping bag and everything in the bag with antibacterial soap.

MarchingOnTogether · 16/01/2022 00:54

I was quite relaxed compared to most, I didn't wash shopping or anything like that. But i did once pay £7 for a 9 roll pack of loo rolls cos it was all we could get!
I also bought laptops for the kids and genuinely believed I could handle homeschooling!

yogafairy · 16/01/2022 00:58

I'm an accidental prepper. (Poor childhood with a mother that would 'forget' to feed us) so I always have way too much food in the house.

My husband bought a small crossbow as he was convinced people would know we had food and try to break in and take it from us.

Musicalmaestro · 16/01/2022 04:26

I ordered a bar of chocolate from Amazon.

onethingonly · 16/01/2022 08:11

Lived in a flat. Before the time of masks I wore a scarf over my mouth and nose and gloves to take the rubbish to the bins 🤣.

onlychildhamster · 16/01/2022 08:58

I took toilet paper from my workplace and a hotel I was staying at during the Great toilet paper shortage of 2020 when you couldn't buy any... Bought a lot of cans of tomatoes at one point. I really craved Macdonald's at one point and paid £4 for it to be delivered on deliveroo.

Can't think of anything else. I didn't go out much during the pandemic because the shops were closed and I got bored of traipsing around Highgate woods (once a week was enough for me). I had a communal garden I ran around occasionally. I don't have a car and live in London so took public transport even during lockdown as I needed to go to the supermarket (and DH wanted to go to the Korean one in Camden town, never dared to admit that on Mumsnet cos someone would probably say that I was being irresponsible but I guess it's probably fine now). We always wear masks and I remember telling off this girl for singing in the bus (cos I read that singing spreads covid).Her singing sounded awful though so I am not sure which part I was more annoyed about- the singing, the covid risk (she wasn't wearing a mask either!)