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Original poster

When people say they have no idea how they got it...

202 replies

Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:09

I see this all the time on MN as well as on social media - people saying they have no idea how they could possibly have got covid because they haven't been anywhere or seen anyone. Then it turns out they have been to the supermarket/post office/for a hospital appointment/live with someone who works outside the home etc etc. Are people who genuinely haven't left the house other than for walks outside when they are socially distanced from others really testing positive? Or do people think "I haven't been anywhere or seen anyone" doesn't include the supermarket and so on?

BTW this is not me criticising anyone for going going the supermarket or whatever, I'm just struggling to comprehend the sheer number of people who are adamant they've caught it despite not leaving the house. I think I keep as safe as I can - I get all my food shopping delivered, I live in a busy area so I tend to wear a mask when outside, both DH and I wfh and our DS is not at school. However if I caught it I don't think I would be baffled - I was in the chemist the other day picking up some antibiotics, sometimes it is impossible for me to stay 2m away from people outside unless I walk into traffic...and so on.

I'm just wondering which it is: are people genuinely getting it when they haven't left the house and have only been for walks when they were SD the entire time, OR are people genuinely surprised they are getting it despite supermarket trips and so on because they think if masked and distanced you can't catch it?

OP posts:
TryingNotToPanicOverCovid · 29/01/2021 22:11

I'm one of them. We shielded last year for the first few months as I initially thought Id be on the list for asthma.

I have it now and no idea how. We have been on daily walks (usually me and a child) and had supermarket and amazon deliveries. We've avoided supermarkets since last March, avoided people etc etc

Contact tracer said he hears 2-3 stories like mine a day

TryingNotToPanicOverCovid · 29/01/2021 22:13

I am still in shock. We even kept our youngest off school that day in Jan schools went back...

RedMarauder · 29/01/2021 22:15

@TryingNotToPanicOverCovid one of your delivery persons including the postie likely had it and passed it to you. While Covid doesn't live on surfaces for a long time, it still lives on them.

ReluctantHomeschooler · 29/01/2021 22:17

@TryingNotToPanicOverCovid sorry to hear you are ill. Did you wear a mask on your walks?

I am a carer for a very vulnerable person and am terrified of catching it. I walk to their house via the supermarket every day, then get a taxi home with both rear windows open. I ALWAYS wear a mask when outside the home.

Stories like yours terrify me.

TryingNotToPanicOverCovid · 29/01/2021 22:18

We weren't ever within 2 meters of them. Did the stand back thing - they seem well trained. Honestly we've been so scared of catching it as cv. Ive wondered if one of them had it and we touched the delivery soon after. Or a runner passed us outside. Or maybe its just more transmissible outside than it previously was?!?

Ive windered

StillGoingToWork · 29/01/2021 22:18

I know exactly where I got it. A fellow bus passenger who refused to move away from me, early March last year, hacking his guts up. I can't work from home and I don't drive so it seemed inevitable.

Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:18

I haven't been washing my deliveries because I lived through years of hell suffering extreme OCD and that sort of thing is hugely triggering for me. All the emphasis on hand washing has been bad enough for me tbh. However, I do always wash my hands after receiving deliveries.

OP posts:
Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:19

And I dont open the door to anyone delivering; I ask them to leave it on the doorstep.

OP posts:
TryingNotToPanicOverCovid · 29/01/2021 22:20

I think going in supermarkets is a real risk so wouldn't have done that personally. Anywhere indoors in the same room is.

We didnt wear masks walking but had just begun discussing if we would. I'm not sure a fabric mask protects you much? Id worn a disoosable one for a medical appointment (over a month ago) and an eye test (2 months ago).

I think my story must be pretty unusual tbh.

Goawayquickly · 29/01/2021 22:21

I have friends who really haven't left the house in 3 months, they got it as did their neighbour's. It must have been caught from a shopping delivery, there's simply no other way. The houses are semi detached,they've wondered about droplets spreading through the loft space or air vents (because the neighbor's have been careful too) its bizarre, luckily they're all recovering well.

Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:21

I walk to their house via the supermarket every day, then get a taxi home with both rear windows open. I ALWAYS wear a mask when outside the home.

I'd have thought that if you do supermarket trips plus taxi rides every day that would be fairly high risk. At least you'd know where you caught it if you did get it.

OP posts:
TryingNotToPanicOverCovid · 29/01/2021 22:22

And also Im not as ill as I imagined I would be given my risk factors. So assume its a low viral load (?!) so maybe from passing someone walking?

Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:22

I've worn N95 masks for a while now but they're pricy.

OP posts:
BettyOBarley · 29/01/2021 22:22

I caught it at the beginning of January despite not stepping foot in a shop (or anywhere) since before Christmas. DS went back to nursery for one day so that is the only place I can think of (he showed no signs of illness although I know children often don't). There were no other confirmed cases of children or parents in his nursery reported though.
So if it wasn't from there it had to be post, Amazon delivery or Asda food shop.

Pipandmum · 29/01/2021 22:22

I have a friend who was being cautious - wiping down her food delivery, no leaving the house unless absolutely essential and masking up long before it was a requirement. She had a short five minute visit from a friend and they chatted in her hallway for a few minutes before November lockdown. Three days later the visitor got a positive result, two days after that my friend did.
Meanwhile I have been going to the shops weekly, do not wipe down my groceries, and have met several sets of friends (under required conditions, we were tier one at the time), and even went on a trip to London during November lockdown for my child to sit entry exams, using public transport and being in a school with dozens of others. This child was also going to school every day and I have another who went to college and worked in a shop. None of us have got it (as far as we know), but that one five minute chat seemed to be how my friend did.

Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:23

OH, we also get takeaways so I expect that is probably the highest risk thing we do.

OP posts:
Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:23

So if it wasn't from there it had to be post, Amazon delivery or Asda food shop

It'll almost certainly have been nursery.

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Augustlou30 · 29/01/2021 22:24

I tested positive just before Halloween last year. I had no symptoms and only knew as I'm a nurse in private healthcare and was being routinely tested. I'm not even convinced I had it never mind know where I got it. Was def not work as I'd taken the October hols off with kids, could have been at a trampoline centre I'd taken kids to but it was very well planned out. Could have been a supermarket I guess. Or my paramedic OH? I isolated with OH for the 2 weeks and neither or I anyone else developed any symptoms.

If you have covid, you've caught it from somewhere!!

Tarquinthecat · 29/01/2021 22:24

Every scientific study has shown that wearing a mask does nothing whatsoever to stop you catching it.

I might stop a person from spreading it, but not catching it.

So to those of you who won't leave the house without wearing a mask -- what's your rationale?

Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:25

So to those of you who won't leave the house without wearing a mask -- what's your rationale?

I do leave without wearing one, but if I know I won't be able to SD then I wear one to protect others.

And actually the N95s do protect the wearer as well as others.

OP posts:
Original poster
Partedinsurprise · 29/01/2021 22:28

Was def not work as I'd taken the October hols off with kids, could have been at a trampoline centre I'd taken kids to but it was very well planned out. Could have been a supermarket I guess. Or my paramedic OH?

Without singling you out, your post exemplifies what I'm talking about.

  1. the October holidays are only a week so you could easily have picked it up at work before that and not tested positive til over a week later
  2. no matter how well planned out if this trampoline place was indoors it was always going to be quite high risk
  3. yes of course it could have been a supermarket
  4. and yes of course it could have been your OH if he's a paramedic.

That's what I'm saying!!!

OP posts:
Echobelly · 29/01/2021 22:29

If I get it will most likely be supermarket - I'm not getting deliveries in because we live so near the supermarket, and lots of other shops, wfh and are a low-risk household so I feel I ought to keep using the shops (but obviously not just popping in and out every day) to save delivery slots for people who need them more.

I'm now pretty certain I did have it at the beginning before there were test outside hospitals (as a London commuter, I would be high on the list to get infected early) , but I expect any protection I got from that is moot now.

bombaychef · 29/01/2021 22:34

It's air bourne so as soon as you are in close proximity to someone breathing out virus, especially indoors, you may pick it up. I see loads of people outdoors meeting one other person / family but they chatting close up. I often find myself walking away from people

RuleWithAWoodenFoot · 29/01/2021 22:42

I assume I'll get it via school. Either me or child.

MiniTheMinx · 29/01/2021 22:46

I tested positive on Monday. I can narrow it down to two possibilities. Vaccine on the Saturday before in a hospital, or a home visit to a family finding myself in a house with not only them but several police and two paramedics. No other possibilities. I usually wear N95s. In both cases I only wore blue surgical mask.