Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Where did people actually catch COVID-19?

78 replies

NewAndImprovedNorks · 26/07/2020 17:41

I have tried to google and have been trying to find some statistical data.
Either I am asking the wrong question, or just being a bit dense with the search terms.
I wonder if anyone could suggest a resource with factual statistics concerning how most coronavirus was contracted.?

I am particularly interested in how many cases were contracted at supermarkets / walking dogs / handling mail etc. In other words, normal everyday tasks.

BTW, I am NOT a journalist, I am just interested to discover how it has ACTUALLY been transferred to help me with some (Mostly friendly) arguments and with my (mostly mild) health anxiety

Thank you to anyone who can shove me in the right direction

OP posts:

ClashCityRocker · 26/07/2020 17:54

I suspect most people don't actually know.

There's quite a long incubation period, so it could be anywhere you'd been fourteen days previous.

It would be interesting to see how many people who genuinely haven't left the house (and don't live with others who have) for the duration have caught it.

oldbagface · 26/07/2020 18:26

I have been wondering about this too

TheMumblesofMumbledom · 26/07/2020 18:29

I suspect I caught it at work.

Catonaroof · 26/07/2020 18:33

I'd imagine that most older people caught it in hospitals and care homes, and people of working age caught it at work, as being at work was the only mixing we were doing when we were locked down.

I'm sure people who haven't been going out to work or socialise have caught it, but I'd think they make up a tiny proportion of the overall figures.

Owleyes16 · 26/07/2020 18:33

There isn't really any way to know. For me, I started with symptoms about a week before lock down began (there was also no testing available to me at the time, but I'm 99% certain that's what it was) and I'd only been out the house 3 times in the previous few weeks.

It was most likely caught during a trip to the next town to meet my friend, probably on the bus, or in the coffee shop, or even from her (though she hasn't had symptoms). I also went to the supermarket before I got ill, but date wise and considering the incubation period as well as the fact my friend didn't get ill, it was probably the bus home.

CeibaTree · 26/07/2020 18:38

The only person I know who had a confirmed case got it from their PhD supervisor (who apparently had symptoms but continued to meet with people for some unknown reason).

MedSchoolRat · 26/07/2020 18:46

See This OP.

I believe that most transmissions are within home residences, with the occasional super-spreading event outside homes.

GlamGiraffe · 26/07/2020 18:48

I had only been to one place in 14 days (sad I know) pre lockdown and caught it. That was in a supermarket. But as for statistics no idea.

wherestheotherone · 26/07/2020 18:51

I suspect I got it from tge supermarket during the panic buying fiasco while trying to feed my family with anything that was left on a shelf. Either that or my dad brought it in from Scouts or school.

Fedup21 · 26/07/2020 18:53

There’s no way to absolutely definitively tell. Hence the study in the Times last week saying there was no proof that any teachers anywhere in the world had caught it from a child. I would imagine there’s no categoric PROOF how anyone has caught it, that doesn’t mean anything really.

Porcupineinwaiting · 26/07/2020 19:02

I dont know. I think I caught it from a work colleague but that same week I'd been on a packed commuter train, in a cafe, in a lecture theatre so who knows?

I do know that my dh and children caught it from me.

Cuddling57 · 26/07/2020 19:05

I don't think you are going to get it from walking the dog - just swerve other people!

Kitcat122 · 26/07/2020 19:11

I caught it from my husband who got ill after traveling on business through Heathrow and London.

BluebellsGreenbells · 26/07/2020 19:11

The news said some weeks ago that you were 60% more likely to catch it if you are a shop worker, I should imagine a lot of hospital and health workers also caught it at work and passed it on, as well as care workers.

So there must be a list somewhere

Benji13 · 26/07/2020 19:15

My dh caught it at work just as we locked down- works in an office. 3 of his colleagues all fell ill at the same time. One mans wife was the start I think.
Me and our 2 ds’s didn’t catch it, but he did isolate in a separate room and used a separate bathroom for 10 days.

GameSetMatch · 26/07/2020 19:19

The only two people I know who caught it have caught it from hospital, my friend is a Covid nurse so she caught it at work and then she passed it to her husband. They both said it felt like a bad hangover for two days and on the third day they felt fine only she still had no sense of smell or taste for a further few days.

Scarby9 · 26/07/2020 19:22

Someone I know got it from their GP!
Only place they had been, only person they had come into contact with.
They saw the GP on TV talking about catching it.
Seemed very unfair since they were very reluctant to visit the GP ( shielding) but the surgery insisted the blood test was necessary so they went.
Luckily it only lasted just over a week and was fairly mild.

DancingInDespair · 26/07/2020 19:26

I suspect many people don't really know.
Unless you are a healthcare worker or something, it's hard to make a good guess.

MintyMabel · 26/07/2020 19:45

I believe that most transmissions are within home residences, with the occasional super-spreading event outside homes.

That report was from China in April. I doubt that’s relevant to that is happening in the U.K.

Realitea · 26/07/2020 19:45

Just thinking of the people I know who caught it, there are many more than this but they haven't said/didn't know.
one was a nurse and her husband caught it from her - they're both fine now but said it was horrendous for a couple of weeks
one caught it from her carers who were going in daily - she had many underlying health problems and sadly died
2 from the cheltenham races - one was in intensive care for three weeks and is home now but has lung damage. The other is still very tired but otherwise ok and back at work
one other nurse - he's fine now
one went into hospital with a leg problem and caught covid from there - he was over 70 and sadly died
There are some more 'maybe's' that haven't confirmed for instance my son who is at uni. He is certain he got it from my SIL (healthcare worker) - we were all unwell apart from DH. However she's just tested negative for antibodies! We're still convinced she had it though.

Rosieposy4 · 26/07/2020 19:49

Fairly certain I caught it at work, probably an asymptomatic child ( we only had key worker kids in at the time) several other staff also caught.
I know an NHS worker who must have caught it from work, another who definitely didn’t ( all patients in hospital tested and negative in the two weeks preceding his case). Care worker almost certainly caught it at work. The 2 people I know that have died, no idea hwere they caught it from.

Elephantshoe · 26/07/2020 19:53

I got mine two days before Scotland went into lockdown, and I know it was from one of two bus journeys I had to take. I always go by car but my DH wasn't available so I had to get two buses into the next city for an appointment. I was down for 10 days, then DH and DS caught it and I had to look after them while still feeling like crap. DH lost his taste and smell for 4 weeks after. No official tests, but as a family we just don't get ill, and going by our symptoms it was definitely Covid.
Thankfully Scotland went into lockdown as I was due to go to a big, crowded event days before I started showing symptoms... I dread to think how many I would have infected had it not been cancelled

ArthurMorgan · 26/07/2020 20:07

If what I had was actually covid ( highly suspect it was ) then I caught it from my niece and nephews who most likely caught it from a massive shopping centre / shopping centre restaurant.

Drivingdownthe101 · 26/07/2020 20:11

DH likely caught it while working in London (either the train/tube, the office or in a restaurant after work) and I caught it from him.

Arnoldthecat · 26/07/2020 20:19

Its a curious thing but i dont know anyone directly who has positively been identified as having had COVID. Furthermore i have a friend who is in the funeral business and he assures me that his business and several others have never been so quiet. Quieter than a non Covid year ! .

If we have had 45,000 extra deaths in the last 3 or 4 months, who is processing them and where are all the bodies? I drive around ll day at work and im not aware of fleets of hearses on the roads..

Why is it that the share price of one of the biggest funeral businesses in the UK, Dignity, has dived over 50% in the last 6 months??

Flip

1 2 3 4