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

[Partedinsurprise]

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?

I think people might claim not knowing where they caught it for fear of being accused of rule breaking. So they'll emphasise they've been extremely careful, followed the guidance to prevent any judgemental finger pointing.

I'm not sure this thread is helpful to you Op if you've suffered from extreme OCD and anxiety.

Please be reassured that if you're only leaving the house for walks and are following all guidelines on the rare occasion you have been to a shop, then you are keeping yourself very safe.

I wonder if you're seeking anecdotal evidence that people have caught covid from not washing everything entering the house or you want to be reassured that your own chances are low?

I agree with you Op, you're doing all you can and starting to sanitize everything being delivered to your home would be very triggering to your OCD and not necessary. It's important to protect your mental health too

"I have no idea how I got it. I work in a school"

Jesus wept

@YukoandHiro

"I have no idea how I got it. I work in a school"

Jesus wept

There's not been many of them, but so many "I've no idea where I've got it, I've not left the house, I have all my shopping delivered." Turns out they have school aged children. The govt definitely did a number on the whole country with that "Schools are safe" shit. Still gobsmacked people believed it, but it seems they did.

I don’t think people think about cross contamination at all. Even with not going out you can still get it is you have deliveries coming in, as well as other day to day activities.

Your post, if the postman has asymptomatic and you touch your mail, even if you wipe it down or spray it like we do, what if you accidentally touch your face, clothes hair without thinking before you clean it. The same with deliveries.

Maybe someone has touched your front door handle then you do.I know for me we share a right of way with our neighbours, so they touch the gate just like we do. I found out yesterday their daughter has had it, I had no idea. I was my hands when coming in and out but I have 3 young children, if they touched it when playing I would have no idea. I of course get them to wash their hands but how many other things dose a child touch.

Dustbins, go in and out. I know when moving mine I sometimes brush my clothes against them. I also usually have to move other peoples out of the way as the bin men leave the whole streets bins outside my house.

What is someone sneezed our coughed when walking past my car and the spray hit one of my door handles, I’d have no idea, I’d get in my car and probably wouldn’t think of sanitising until I was going into a shop or returning home. Even if not going out, I still drive my car every couple of days to keep it working.

So many ways it can happen

DH and I had it recently (thankfully mild, but oh God the fatigue!) and our contacts are v minimal but both kids at school and there have been several cases there, so I'm cheerfully pointing the finger at them Asymptomatic buggers the pair of them!
And we're Kent, so not surprising...

Like @SimonJT I wouldn't have minded in a way if we'd been to a sweaty rave/house party etc!

There's a fair bit of research that shows people inherently think that family and friends are 'safe' and it's others that are 'dangerous', whereas it's far more likely you'll catch it from people you know/work with.

I think we see so much coverage of ‘Covidiots’ that it creates an impression that the people breaking rules are the ones who get it, and keeping to the rules means you’re safe do people are baffled when they test positive despite staying with the rules. The guidelines make things safer not safe, 2m sadly isn’t a magic distance for example, neither is contact less than 15mins.

I guess the only way to be completely safe is for everyone to walk around in level 4 Bio Secure suits all the time. Which clearly is not going to happen.

I think there are a couple of issues. Firstly people genuinely think following the rules means they as an individual will be unlikely to catch covid. However the rules are not designed to stop individuals catching covid, just to stop too many individuals catching it.

Secondly, re parcels and shopping - statistically very few people will catch it this way. Airborne transmission is the bigger risk. But at the individual level, if the person who packed your shopping was infectious and coughing, then that could translate into quite a lot of virus on your packaging. At any one time only a very tiny number of pickers will be infected and coughing and still working, so statistically the chance of being affected by that will be very low, but if that is your shopping that's been coughed over then your individual risk will obviously not be tiny. So it's completely believable to me that there will be a few people who caught it that way, just not very many. (That's why I think both wiping and not wiping shopping are equally reasonable choices, depending on time available and how much people want to remove that small risk.)

People who have caught it but say they have been nowhere and haven’t seen anyone who test positive without symptoms do you not question the validity of tests? Rather than coming up with extreme scenarios like the poster who said on this threat they thing neighbours caught it because of particles going through the loft space?!?

Katie I would genuinely love a second test.

Although I coild have it mildly due to low viral load due to not being a close contact.

I think that a lot of kids are probably getting covid asymptomatically from play equipment at the park, then passing it on. The virus lasts on metal for up to three days, but people feel that it's unlikely because it's outdoors. Even if you anti-bac your kids hands before and after they play, kids constantly touch their faces, so can get the virus anyway.

Not sure, but some people say they haven’t left the house for days on end. In our house we leave the house several times a day, go to the park, run/walk for exercise. I’ve been to super market a few times a week, as I can’t carry all the food and we get food deliveries and order things from Amazon. We open post straight away. I’ve walked past people who suddenly cough or sneeze and don’t cover their mouths (I get so annoyed and pissed off about this!!!).

And our family has been healthy since 2019 (knock wood!) !! And we have 3 kids and a dog (dog is running around the park licking mud and eating things half the time). Youngest is 14 months and eldest 8. The baby has caught a few minor colds that she must have picked up from siblings (even though they have been fine). But it’s just runny nose here or few sneezes there. Anyway, wondering if we somehow had it and never realised or have we been that lucky to avoid it (even though living in an area where lots have it).

@Nopreservatives

I know there are plenty of possibilities but I don't know "how" I got it and I didn't pass it on to anyone, so that must show I was pretty good with the distancing etc.

How would you know if someone who was in the gym just after you, who you do t know and would t hear news of, caught it from you?

I totally agree OP.

I've shared this simulation before, but I really think it's helpful in visualising how you can catch it in shops even though you aren't standing next to anyone/the shop is half empty.

If the last person in the shop sneezed/coughed on their way out and you enter 3 mins later you are walking through an invisible haze of their aerosol.

Ditto gyms.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=vv9JQ0iPfgE

I work in a hospital on a ward and in the community and have primary school aged DC, and I go shopping in the supermarket.

A colleage asked me where I thought I caught it from?

My friend claimed her neighbour died because there was covid on a letter the postman brought.

Nothing to do with the VE Day party the entire close had, where they were all swapping food and drinks.

Definitely from a letter.

Personally I’m more shocked by the people who say with a certainty exactly where they caught it. Riiiight. So its a microscopic organism that cannot be seen. And you only burst your hyper-effective protective bubble on that one split second?

@YukoandHiro

"I have no idea how I got it. I work in a school"

Jesus wept

More common than you'd think....

We had a good few pupils test positive and then "ah yes Jamie had a bit of a dry throat last week but we haven't been anywhere".

HE'S. BEEN. IN. SCHOOL.

I haven't had covid but got a nasty cold over new year. We'd both been off work and children off school. Hadn't seen anyone and has only been for walks/runs outside. So it wasn't covid but it was still a virus I caught somewhere so can only think it was from a food or Amazon delivery.

I take a taxi once a day. It’s a small firm with about 20 drivers. Four of the drivers who have taken me have caught Covid from passengers. In each case, the taxi firm was contacted by the passenger after testing positive and the taxi driver then also tested positive.

All taxi drivers wear masks and the passengers are required to wear masks also. So the virus has travelled through 2 masks.

However, the interesting thing is that these taxi drivers had a very mild case, in spite of being obese and/or having underlying health conditions. I can only think that the masks saved them from getting it worse.

It will have gone round the edges of the masks rather than through them, because the masks won't have been the tight fitting fit-tested FFP type.

I also have heard people sure that they have caught it from random (very unlikely) places when in fact their child has been at school! I think it's partly not wanting to acknowledge that something they rely on isn't safe so they blame it on a completely random event instead. It is frustrating when claims are then made on social media that are misleading and worrying to people.

Heartily agree.

All through this pandemic I’ve ground my teeth at posters claiming ignorance as to where they could have possibly caught it, winding up and frightening people - eg me!

For a start, many people make things up. And as pps have observed, people conveniently forget activities they enjoy or sail a bit close to the wind safety-wise in favour of blaming a delivery driver or “particles coming from the loft”.

I remember one poster saying her df had definitely caught in from the post, as he had been absolutely nowhere and had seen no one......... apart from his carers !

It's funny though because on the flip side I know of quite a few people in real life - where people they lived with had covid and no one else in the household caught it. Is that not just so odd?

I know 5 people who had covid and no one else in their household caught it. Then others say they only go for a walk and caught it ? Or haven't gone anywhere at all and caught it from their supermarket or amazon delivery. No idea how this covid spreading works to be honest! It does what it wants, clearly !

Im in both those categories. I only went for walks and tesco was delivered.

Howevrer noone else in my family have symtpoms. I'd love to know if they're asymptomatic or somehow immune as we're in a small house so you'd imagine they're in clsoe contact!