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 a HUGE tub of Antiseptic Wipes,1,000 per packet,currently on the third packet.

Also have a cupboard still full of loo rolls.

Oh God, it's ridiculous...

• left all our shoes outside
• wondered when the authorities would hose down the pavement (like in Dubai etc)
• Found out my colleague had been to a big football match so went home, stripped off as soon as I got in and showered

-quarantined post

• washed shopping
• squirrelled party food away for DCs' birthday just in case
• rationed food just in case
• removed jewellery, kept hair short

I spent the last few weeks of my Mums life absolutely convinced that she would be taken away from my care because we had "broken the rules" by moving her to ouf house because she couldn't live alone any more.

The back story to this is that she was deteriorating rapidly and I was visiting her in her flat with district nurses going in. The flat was too small and intimate for me to stay there, and as we had a suitable room with ensuite she suggested she could come there, as she had started to have falls. I had devoured all the shielding info and was wearing masks and gloves while travelling to her and before the district nurses were (masks I mean- they wore gloves obviously).

So we rang Macmillan - we had been told that there were no hospices available and she and I didn't want that. We explained everything to the receptionist and were told this was categorically against the rules and not allowed.

My Mum was beside herself, and so upset. She got through to her GP who organised a 24 hour hospital stay to sort out sodium levels which were a genuine concern, and we managed to get everything she needed moved to our house in time for her discharge- of course she had to be released to an environment deemed safe so she came to us, and her last weeks were as peaceful as they could be.

But I genuinely believed that "they" were going to come and take her "for her own safety" because of the rules on top of the stress of watching her pass.

Of course on hindsight I'm sure the receptionist was just being over zealous and misinterpreting the rules a bit as it came under care etc. In addition, the unit moved offices and the nurses were re-deployed so that support went out the window. District nurses were fabulous though.

It was probably the worst four weeks of my life during "Covid" on many levels and I'm sure my fear was really irrational but every time anyone medical turned up my anxiety went through the roof.

Oh, we made very sure we left the house two or three times a day, and went for plenty of long walks. I also kept reminding friends and acquaintances on social media that fresh air and sunshine are essential, that we were not under house arrest, and repeating all the circumstances in which you can tell a copper to fuck off.

It kind of helps if you have seen moral panics before and know what they look like...

@BearYoYo yup ! I still had to go into work but we had very reduced team sizes so I didn’t see some of colleagues who where changed to wfh for around 17 months untill they returned to work ! Totally wasn’t expecting that crazy really

Similar to you I didn’t really take any extra precautions other than mask and sanitiser ,

I remember unpacking my shopping at the start of lockdown and after reading and hearing people saying they were wearing gloves to go to the shops or cleaning down their shopping I was stood trying to figure the logistics of what I’d touched , at what points should I sanitise between picking up shopping from shelf’s , touching phone to pay , going in pocket for car keys , getting home etc etc etc and I thought nah this is far to much effort and never bothered

Finally caught covid for the first time last month right on Xmas 😩

I was half laughing at some of these because a lot seems silly now, but actually in the immediate first few weeks after lock down was announced I remember wearing tatty gardening gloves to the local co-op to get some top up shopping (essentials - milk, bread, wine) and feeling a bit shaky all the way round the shop.

I worked on the frontline throughout and still have some residual .... PTSD? It seems too strong a word but I really wish I had made a record of those first few months because I almost don't believe it happened now.

Obsessively checked the MEN every day for local infection rates in the hope that they’d gone down so my hospital would start allowing partners to come to scans

I found a stick that was exactly 2 metres long and I used it to make sure my kids kept socially distanced from my parents when we met them for walks.

I was thinking just this morning that if omicron is meant to be more contagious than delta , and that was more contagious than alpha which was more contagious than the original one .... the original one can't have been that contagious - yet we were all sure you could catch it from gates and fences !

After the binmen had been I went out with Dettol and did all the handles up and down my street (nearly all elderly and I was worried about them)

I rearranged our garden because our sofa was in one corner, and the neighbours had their table and chairs in the adjacent corner so it wasn't 2m away.

I live in a town with a bridge that goes up at certain times of day to let shipping through. I wrote to the bridge managers to complain about the free-for-all mob on the bridge after people are allowed back on again. I asked if there was anything they could do about it - they said 'no' .

Talking to my mum through her lounge window.

Wearing surgical gloves round sainsbury's

Buying mums shopping and leaving it at her front door, telling her she must wash it off before putting it away.

Posting magazines through mums door as she was alone from March to July.

Looking back that's so bloody sad.

@BeeDavis

I genuinely cannot believe people washed their shopping.

I was filled with the fear that I'd either kill my elderly neighbour, or my son, who was CEV. I did the shopping for my neighbour and washed hers and mine!

Nothing.

I had Covid in March 2020 and had very mild symptoms so didn't really give a shit after that! I played by the rules because I didn't want to catch it again and pass it on, but I knew I would be ok if I got it so didn't need to worry too much. It was actually a really good thing to get it so early on, although I was quite annoyed at the time!

I quarantined post (I remember the fear when it dropped through the letterbox), held my breath if I walked past someone in the street and burst into tears when my SIL touched my dad on the shoulder

I was exceptionally anxious at the start of the first lockdown, mid March 2020. I was not anxious about Covid itself, but about the queues, and the shortages and the panic buying. I was in a very dark place.

Lovely DH went into practical mode and every day he went to work he'd stop at the local Morrisons and buy a carrier bag of tins in case things got bad, and hid them in the garage so as not to worry me, or make me think he was in any way concerned too.

Just last week we came across a carrier bag full of tinned peaches and custard which he'd hidden behind the paint

@YouBoggleMyMind

I still know some people who are extra extra careful even now (double jabbed and boosted and in their 30s) and still avoid people in general including family.

Almost every day when I’m out walking at lunchtime I still see anxious looking people, usually older women, wearing masks outside and taking evasive action when they come within 5m of another person. It’s sad to see, and it’s obvious the message about the relative risks of indoors vs outdoors hasn’t got across as well as it should.

I also ordered a chest freezer, but ptomptly cancelled.
My usual freezer was chock full of food 'just in case'. I would freeze the final few bread slices in case we ran out later.

Washed the shopping

Disinfected the family after each daily walk

Avoided our neighbours friendly cat when he'd pop over the fence (we thought they might give the cat covid & he'd spread it to us) He was very confused. He'd run towards us to say hi and we'd all pile back into the house!

Ordered a takeaway to collect then panicked and frantically googled if I was allowed out to collect it. Thought what if the police stopped me and classed it as a non essential journey because I could have had it delivered instead

Also before things really kicked off I was sure it would all blow over and that they would never close school can't believe how long it's gone on for now.

I washed the shopping a couple of times, and quarantined post for a bit. DD's birthday is in March and a relative sent her a present, but I wouldn't let her have it for two days. She was 6! That didn't last very long, though.

We had shopping deliveries but there was one week, early on, where I couldn't get a slot (stayed up until stupid o'clock despite having two young DC!), so I had to go to Sainsbury's. I was horrified at the idea. Got home and put the shopping away, feeling revolting. Jumped in the shower afterwards and washed everything. I remember DM telling me to wash inside my nose, which I duly did. I would've washed inside my eyelids if I could've. Also washed my glasses, just in case.

And the first time I took the DC for a walk was probably a month in. We went to the postbox and back, and it felt insane to be OUTSIDE. DS would've been 20mo or so at the time, and I was freaking out that he might try to pick a dandelion or something. I hated it.

Thankfully, for me, the anxieties didn't last too long. A friend of mine was so terrified and I think, in a way, that helped me snap out of it a bit, because I saw/heard what she was doing and realised most of it was irrational.

I wasn't scared of the virus, despite being told I was CEV. The data at that point (March 2020) showed that it was a real threat to the elderly, but not to younger people.

What was terrifying was that the established Pandemic plan was ripped up in favour of something bascially made up on the spot that had no endpoint. What hasn't been made public is that the scientists developing the vaccines were really pessimistic that they could get one working.

In Spring-Autumn 2020 there was no long-term plan. This was what was so worrying to someone with a job that requires people to be out and about.

Timed our daily allocated hour exercise and worried if we sat down on the beach I live 5’mins walk away from. I let my daughter have a swim in the sea early on in the first lockdown.. glorious weather and part of our hour out the house. I was so paranoid I’d be in trouble!

@doodleina

Held my breath any time I had to walk past someone ... in the park ... outside... a considerable distance away from them ... 🤣🤣

Ha ha that’s just what I did too!