Mumsnet during the beginning of the Pandemic - please tell me your stories of the maddest comments you saw

[mumofoneAlonebutokay]

Inspired by chat on another thread - one woman was told not to pop to the shop for milk but to put butter in her coffee instead 😄

I wasn't on mumsnet then but would love to know the maddest comments you saw?

I myself went mad during the pandemic 🙈 and refused to leave the house and judged anybody that did, I'll admit 😬😄 - I wish I'd been calmer

Please share 🥰

Edit - I know how awful the pandemic was for those who lost loved ones, and how serious those losses are - this is just about the unnecessary hysteria and comments stemming from that, not to poke fun at those who lost someone or became ill. 💕

I think we’d have an attitude change if it only affected 20 year olds

I think Japan avoided harsher restrictions too

Yes my main recollection was the gleefulness of the people who loved lockdown.

I was, and am, of the mindset we should protect the vulnerable and everyone else go about daily life with minimal restrictions. I'm old enough to recall the Hong Kong flu outbreak in the late 60s when I believe more people died than of covid. We all carried on as normal, society didn't collapse and I personally didn't know anyone who died of it, even elderly relatives.

My husband's lovely aunt was dying of cancer during lockdown ,at home fortunately, and I was damned if I wasn't going to see her and give her a last hug, even if it was against "the rules".

The overwhelming majority of people who died from COVID were extremely elderly with existing serious health conditions.

So I'm not remotely interested in your jingoistic hyperbole.

All the "this is the new normal, get used to it, life will never be the same" bollocks. Seeing a crowded airport/ music venue/pub makes my heart soar now knowing that wasn't true and was never going to be.

Covid has killed about 10 times as many people as the Hong Kong flu outbreak (https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1968-pandemic.html).

"It's just a cold" was a common phrase and it still annoys me. As if anyone actually wants to get a cold.

The big problem, and this doesn't fall into the funny stories category, is that it was never possible to protect all the vulnerable because some of them had directly competing interests.

This is also why moralising is generally unconvincing.

This discussion always went the same way at the time, and still apparently goes the same way today.

Someone says "Well, it's only old people dying", as if old people can just fuck off (hey, let's save 5% of GDP by not treating anyone over 80, think of all the meals in chain restaurants we could buy for that).

Then when it's pointed out that lots of younger/disabled/brown people were vulnerable too, when it would look a bit bad to propose that they just fuck off, some handwaving idea to "protect" or "shield" them is proposed, without any explanation of how you suddenly rewire the whole logistics of the country to separate, house, and feed several million individuals, while the people who have to do that also try not to pass on the virus.

Then there's some "well well well well erm the government and the EU should just sort it out, waaaah waaaah, I just want to go to the pub".

Same. Comparing it to either colds or flu needs to be retired permanently. Neither of these things describe the severity of symptoms and they can both be anything from asymptomatic to fatal! So what point anyone thought they were making, I do not know.

I absolutely agree with this. There would be far less compliance a second time around. Or they will just bring in martial law…….

Which is also not going to be effective on a population who aren't having it, because we don't have the numbers. Population of knocking on 70 million, 170k police and 180k army, some of whom are stationed abroad.

Restrictions like lockdown can only happen in a society that's broadly, if not supportive, then at least acquiescent. We will not have another one unless and until enough of the population are up for it. If martial law even has to be considered, that's a sign that it'll fail.

And virtually every death was recorded as covid. There were people who had numerous serious conditions that had covid on the death certificate. Covid was not what killed them. It just caused more worry to those already lapping up the fear.

I was very happy to be at home with my son, claiming every grant going. Some people received very large sums. Some claimed business bounceback loans for deposits to help their children on the property ladder. Rolex watches were flying off the shelves. I know a few with shops who got grants of £50k for the shop alone, some more if they had storage units. Then furlough on top of that. We paid a substantial amount for this. All to protect already very sick vulnerable people. It was wrong I knew it at the time and nothing could convince me otherwise.

Also remember the children that suffers the most would be probably from household with high anxiety parents feeding this fear to their children. It’s hardly surprising that some kids really suffered and it was totally unnecessary. I think the kids happiest in lockdown was where there was no big deal made of the virus.

The special needs children were allowed into school second lockdown.

Agree

It seems ageism is a completely acceptable form of discrimination these days.

And virtually every death was recorded as covid. There were people who had numerous serious conditions that had covid on the death certificate. Covid was not what killed them. It just caused more worry to those already lapping up the fear

Yes, I know someone who died from a brain tumour during Covid. They were in hospital and also had Covid, but that was not what killed them. I was told that Covid probably made their brain tumour more aggressive (what? 😂) so they still died from Covid and would not have died otherwise (yes, they still will have... from their brain tumour... which was what killed them).

Also read about someone whose uncle took his own life during lockdown. That was Covid too (apparently it can make people suicidal. never mind this man had pre-existing MH illness).

This was amazing at highlighting that it is nothing biological that causes this.

The mother of a close friend tested negative for covid twice. Her death was recorded as being from covid, the reason being that otherwise her death would probably have required an inquest, which would then have revealed that her death was actually due to massive medical neglect. There was such a zombie-like moronic focus on protecting people from covid that seemingly intelligent people couldn't see that isolating vulnerable elderly people was essentially a death sentence.

I don't know what went on in people's minds. The level of stupidity was incredible.

I agree. Which is why I wonder exactly how we would be forced to comply in a future potential similar situation. The implications are scary.

Rubbish. The boomer generation was the most prosperous in modern history. Cheap housing, gold plated pensions. We literally locked down society to save the elderly during Covid. How is that not caring? You know babies/children aren’t given the chickenpox vaccine because the elderly need exposure to the virus (through young people) in order to get shingles. So kids are literally put at higher risk to save older people.

Interest rates of 18%, no freebies like free childcare hours, tax breaks etc, parents working 2 or 3 jobs to keep afloat as there was no working 16 hours then claiming!

Babies and children can have the chickenpox vaccine. You just have to pay and most parents can't be arsed to pay.

And yet they are still the wealthiest generation. Google it.

And the chickenpox vaccine costs £150. It’s not because parents ‘can’t be asked’ FFS. It costs an arm and a leg and the NHS won’t pay for it to protect the elderly.

The a woman who seemed to think (in all seriousness, not tongue in cheek) that her delivery driver husband was at risk of a heist from desperados seeking loo paper.

So if you were on the titanic I assume you’re one of those elderly first? There comes a point you need to know your place of course a young person should come before the elderly. Are we so delusional that we believe to preserve life an any cost including the education and well being of children?

Anyway we did choose the elderly and now children are paying the price, economically and emotionally.

Let's not forget that the people who posted messages that we now think OTT or 'hysterical', were all scared and living through traumatic times. It's easy now to look at the 2m markings and think 'what was that all about?', but at the time it was all we had. No vaccines, no therapeutics, and very little idea about whether or how the virus would mutate. And for every person who took extreme precautions or was policing the behaviour of others, there was someone who believed all the anti-vax, 'it's just the flu' nonsense, and spent their time aggressively ignoring even the sensible advice. No wonder some people became hyper-sensitive about following rules. And let's not forget - we were not well led at the time. The very people who should have been giving clear, honest information, i.e. the senior politicians, were hedging their bets and contradicting themselves with every second announcement.