Am I at risk, or is this just my OCD?!

[Lou0808]

I suffer with OCD and anxiety.

I'm getting help for both.

Just recently I've started taking my daughter to the park for walks.

This is a huge improvement for me as I was not staying local around the street.

Today there was a family of three on bikes.
The path in the park was small.

They were coming forwards me and there was nowhere for me to go so they passed me.

They were close to me for a few seconds.

Now I don't know if this is just my OCD that's causing this worry or if I'm right to feel concerned.

They were exercising so would be been breathing harder, and since I wasn't 2m away I feel like I'm at risk. ☹️

Oh no, you are not at risk from such a minor incident outside with no contact.

It is very unlikely that they have the virus anyway, even if they did you didn’t touch them.

@HumphreyCobblers

Oh no, you are not at risk from such a minor incident outside with no contact.

It is very unlikely that they have the virus anyway, even if they did you didn’t touch them.

But if they are exercising and breathing harder, and they did have it. Wouldn't that be a risk?

Rationally there is a tiny tiny risk here. I think your anxiety is playing a massive part here. Are you getting help with it? Is this one of the first time your daughter has been to the park for a walk in all this time? I think you should try and get some more help for anxiety issues to ensure she isn’t negatively affected. Presume none of you are vulnerable to corona?

You can’t catch it by someone breathing heavily for a second or two next to you or we would all have it! You’re fine. Relax. And keep going out. You’re doing really well.

I read on the BBC news website this week that even if you spend a long period of time indoors with a covid positive person with zero social distancing you only have a 13% chance of catching the virus , so putting it into the context of what happened with you , you can safely assume you will be fine.

@Splitsunrise

Rationally there is a tiny tiny risk here. I think your anxiety is playing a massive part here. Are you getting help with it? Is this one of the first time your daughter has been to the park for a walk in all this time? I think you should try and get some more help for anxiety issues to ensure she isn’t negatively affected. Presume none of you are vulnerable to corona?

Yes. It's the first time. She's only 4 months old.

We've been going for walks every day but we stay local.

I am having help for anxiety and ocd. I have CBT.

It was a few seconds and they didn't breathe or cough directly into your face. For tracing purposes they would contact someone who had been in close proximity for 15 minutes. A few seconds is not an issue at all

Honestly - this is your OCD and anxiety talking.

Realistically, even if they did have it, they would need to have stood right in front of your face and breathed right at you, a number of times.

If catching this were really as easy as walking past people for a split second at 1m+, far far more of us would have had it.

Well done for getting out. Don't let this stop you.

Maybe a wear a mask when you're out? Not that you're at any great risk from someone cycling past you but mentally it might help you?

I felt like this when I first started going out for walks in May after staying in for weeks. Now I walk for miles everyday with my 7 year old, 4 year old and 9 week old and it doesn't bother me. We walk along the coast and cyclists and runners pass us all the time. Sometimes they could be more considerate and keep more of a distance but the risk is tiny. People do have to breathe though, and the more you get out the less it will worry you. Keep going x

Try not to stress, it's highly unlikely you've caught it from such a brief encounter outside.

Next time just move as far away as you can and turn your head etc.

The risks are minimal with brief encounters outside - but they're not NIL

Saying you CANT catch it by someone breathing heavily near you - is nonsense. Of course you can. It's a virus. It takes a tiny amount of the virus to infect you.

However, in your situation, you're far better to get out for a walk than you are to stay home stressIng out about it. The risks outdoors in non crowded spaces really are minimal. Taje DD out & enjoy the fresh air.

For tracing purposes they would contact someone who had been in close proximity for 15 minutes

That's simply practicality, nothing to do with safety.

Actually, it doesn't take a tiny amount of the virus to infect, it takes a reasonable volume, hundreds of particles at least. That's why there's been a focus on close proximity indoors for 15 minutes. If someone coughs on you, or sneezes on you several times, then that's enough for an infectious dose. If someone breathes on you, even fairly heavily, it's takes more like 15 minutes for you to inhale enough virus particles for an infectious dose. Shouting or singing would be somewhere in between. A few seconds walking by outside - no, you can't get enough of an infectious dose. Quite apart from which, infection rates are very low right now so there's a far higher probability that they aren't infected than that they are.

You're doing well getting out OP, it'll do you both the world of good. Keep it up!

Thanks all.

OCD is bloody awful.

It's taken me ages to pluck up the courage to go to the park, and now this is putting me off.

I feel like it's going to eat away at me all day!!! 😖

@Lou0808 Sorry that you feel so anxious.

I wanted to say that when it comes to obsessive thoughts, the obvious urge is to seek reassurance as you're doing now. But actually you want to try and move through that urge using your CBT tools to make peace with the uncomfortable feeling ('I might get Covid') and see the obsessive thought for what it is, in a more rational light. You can label it as catastrophising or black and white thinking, etc, and own that thought then move beyond it.

Since I have been working on my own anxiety I have tried a lot harder not to reach immediately for reassurance, like text a friend to ask them to reassure me that XYZ situation won't really happen. It doesn't solve or heal your underlying anxiety, it just works as a crutch.

I hope that doesn't sound condescending, just sharing what helps me.

[quote florababy84]@Lou0808 Sorry that you feel so anxious.

I wanted to say that when it comes to obsessive thoughts, the obvious urge is to seek reassurance as you're doing now. But actually you want to try and move through that urge using your CBT tools to make peace with the uncomfortable feeling ('I might get Covid') and see the obsessive thought for what it is, in a more rational light. You can label it as catastrophising or black and white thinking, etc, and own that thought then move beyond it.

Since I have been working on my own anxiety I have tried a lot harder not to reach immediately for reassurance, like text a friend to ask them to reassure me that XYZ situation won't really happen. It doesn't solve or heal your underlying anxiety, it just works as a crutch.

I hope that doesn't sound condescending, just sharing what helps me. [/quote]
No not at all, appreciate the input.

I know I shouldn't post and ask for reassurance, I do know this is giving in to the compulsions. But my anxiety was so high when I returned.

I know this has been triggered by my mum telling me she has to return to work on Monday. I'm really worried about her and it's heightened mr anxiety and provoked intrusive thoughts.

I think this is why the cyclists have really bothered me. ☹️