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Original poster

Is there a stigma with covid

28 replies

SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 11:04

Currently going through my first covid infection. Today is my last day of my infectious 7 day window/isolation spell.

All week my mother has treated this as if its HIV that I am going to sneeze and cough all over everyone. She has announced to people that I ha e covid where there was no need. For example the home grocery deliveries have it as fine art. They don't come into homes any more and groceries are at the door. My mother decided to run out and announce that I have covid in case he decided to come in without a mask (an action that hasn't been done since before covid).

The same thing with the postman. The postman only comes to the door or the postbox and she announced to him too just in cast I was going to stand at the door and cough into his face.

I mean like, I am fucking baffled. If it was up to my mother I will be put into isolation for the remainder of my days and die in my room.

The isolation spell is ending today for me and she is still panicking about covid. She has no problem going onto public transport with a flimsy fabric mask and wearing it under her nose but she wo t stand outside metres apart outside from me and even wear a mask outside.

Clearly me being alive is enough to spread covid in her eyes.

OP posts:
Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 11:04

Did anyone else get a stigma?

OP posts:
Justmuddlingalong · 10/07/2022 11:08

I dealt with a few smug fucks who managed to dodge it, going on about how they were sooo careful, meticulously clean and following all the rules. Like we weren't and it was our fault we caught it. Oh the secret glee when covid eventually caught them.

WhiteFire · 10/07/2022 11:16

I think catching COVID is seen as a moral failure by some, and had you been [more] careful then you wouldn't have caught it..

I on the other hand am just amazed it took this long for COVID to get me.

TheDogsMother · 10/07/2022 11:20

One in 25 people have it currently in England so unless people confine themselves to their houses they will be doing well to avoid it. I have heard of so many cases in the last few weeks and we've just caught it for the first time. I really don't think there should be a stigma and people really shouldn't be smug that they haven't had it. It could be them next.

Phrenologistsfinger · 10/07/2022 11:24

so many people have it at the moment (we all do) so I don't think there’s a stigma as such. It sounds like she is anxious herself and doing displacement behaviour.

I am still strongly positive on day 9 since testing positive (not first day of symptoms, which started sooner), and so I am likely still infectious. So don’t assume you are fine after 7 days.

Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 11:49

Justmuddlingalong · 10/07/2022 11:08

I dealt with a few smug fucks who managed to dodge it, going on about how they were sooo careful, meticulously clean and following all the rules. Like we weren't and it was our fault we caught it. Oh the secret glee when covid eventually caught them.

That's so funny on your glee when they got covid.

OP posts:
Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 11:52

Phrenologistsfinger · 10/07/2022 11:24

so many people have it at the moment (we all do) so I don't think there’s a stigma as such. It sounds like she is anxious herself and doing displacement behaviour.

I am still strongly positive on day 9 since testing positive (not first day of symptoms, which started sooner), and so I am likely still infectious. So don’t assume you are fine after 7 days.

My employer decided that I was fit and well to be dragged back into work. I hope I am not infectious. I know I should be wearing a mask but no, I am refusing to wear a mask now in work. No way.

OP posts:
TheOGCCL · 10/07/2022 11:56

I feel like Covid is a social badge of honor as I tend to find people with more friends and who are out and about more are more likely to catch it (taking away different risk levels in certain professions). So definitely not a stigma.

Spudina · 10/07/2022 11:58

That’s nuts OP. I do think some people do still play the blame game like it’s somehow your fault you caught an incredibly common and contagious virus. My colleague caught it this week and apologised to everyone she had been with! (we all work with the immunocompromised for context)

Mossstitch · 10/07/2022 12:11

I don't think there's a stigma but I'm NHS and virtually everyone I know has had it at least once if not more times! I think your mother's anxiety needs addressing/she needs educating. I was stood next to someone, in a long queue at supermarket yesterday, wearing a mask who started chatting to me (I have that kind of a face🙄🤷). She told me hadn't been out for two years and first time out her friend caught it. Explained I worked in hospital and my son had it at the moment for the second time to allow her to step away if she was so anxious but no, every time I took a step back she leaned nearer to go on about how bad it was. Tried to reassure her that it wasn't killing people anymore but she seemed far more happy to just go on about how she's managed to avoid it. I think it has had a very bad effect on a lot of anxious people but then some seem to enjoy being dramatic...... Its no way to live! We just have to treat it like any other virus now.

Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 12:11

Spudina · 10/07/2022 11:58

That’s nuts OP. I do think some people do still play the blame game like it’s somehow your fault you caught an incredibly common and contagious virus. My colleague caught it this week and apologised to everyone she had been with! (we all work with the immunocompromised for context)

It's absolutely nuts. She announced it to the grocery delivery man as if he had a notion to come in without a mask and she behaved as if by right for his own safety he shouldnt have come in beyond the boundaries of the property even though there's air outside and plenty of space she behaved as if he shouldnt be anywhere near me without a mask. The same with the postman.

There's definitely a stigma from my mother as if it's HIV or some STI.

She announced this to people who has no bearing on my every day life and on my health and there was no need for it. Thankfully these people were nice about it but I'm fuming at my mother because there's no need to announce it. If it was up to my mother I will be put into isolation for another few more months until at the least the town knows about me having covid.

OP posts:
easyday · 10/07/2022 12:45

No. Most people I know either get it so mild they just carry on, perhaps wearing a mask if out and about. Or they feel like they've got the flu and stay in. No one announces it to anyone, no one makes them wear a scarlet letter. It's part of life now. (However I did see a woman in the supermarket this morning wearing not only an air filter mask but gloves too).

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 10/07/2022 12:53

I don't know your mum obviously but if she felt there was a stigma surely she would be trying to keep it quiet rather than tell all and sundry Is she trying to warn them to keep well away from you? It doesn't sound like she's ashamed at all.

Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 13:01

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 10/07/2022 12:53

I don't know your mum obviously but if she felt there was a stigma surely she would be trying to keep it quiet rather than tell all and sundry Is she trying to warn them to keep well away from you? It doesn't sound like she's ashamed at all.

No, my mother thought that these people were going to come into our home at the very minute that I had covid and do so without masks and she thought I was going to be at the door to greet them with coughs into their faces.
There was no reason to tell them. She wasn't doing it to protect them. If she was trying to protect others she would at least try and attempt to cover her own coughs and sneezes but she never once did that throughout the pandemic.

My mother didn't want anyone going beyond the boundaries of the property for their own safety.
There's definitely a filthy stigma from her. I will be out from the isolation window tomorrow and my mother has behaved as if I should be in isolation for weeks more.

OP posts:
eyeoresancerre · 10/07/2022 13:06

I got covid last week, my mum honestly thinks I'm tarnished now. That I must have been unhygienic to catch it. She is weird though. OP I sympathise with you! CakeBrewDaffodil

Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 13:18

eyeoresancerre · 10/07/2022 13:06

I got covid last week, my mum honestly thinks I'm tarnished now. That I must have been unhygienic to catch it. She is weird though. OP I sympathise with you! CakeBrewDaffodil

My mother thought the grocery delivery man was going to come into our home and do so without a mask and yet they never did this since February 2020 and they must be warned not to do it because I have covid.

There was no fear of them coming anywhere into our home and their was no fear of me standing at the door to cough into his face and the face of the postman.

It was needless panic to announce that I have covid.

OP posts:
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 10/07/2022 13:27

My mum definitely thought it was “my fault” I had caught it - her exact words were “being gung ho”. I’m certain I got it at work (teaching) but perhaps DP picked it up on a flight for a work trip. Neither of us was licking strangers, for sure.

I was pretty ill with it despite three jabs, and my mum also seemed to think this was some moral failure because other people she knew had it very mildly.

Original poster
SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 13:32

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 10/07/2022 13:27

My mum definitely thought it was “my fault” I had caught it - her exact words were “being gung ho”. I’m certain I got it at work (teaching) but perhaps DP picked it up on a flight for a work trip. Neither of us was licking strangers, for sure.

I was pretty ill with it despite three jabs, and my mum also seemed to think this was some moral failure because other people she knew had it very mildly.

I'm in the same boat. I picked up my dose from work. My employer came in sick. Coughing with sinitus. Without a mask. He said he tested at home but it was negative. I never by his voice it was bullshit. Lo and behold here I am now with covid.

OP posts:
HIVpos · 10/07/2022 13:34

SummersBreeze · 10/07/2022 12:11

It's absolutely nuts. She announced it to the grocery delivery man as if he had a notion to come in without a mask and she behaved as if by right for his own safety he shouldnt have come in beyond the boundaries of the property even though there's air outside and plenty of space she behaved as if he shouldnt be anywhere near me without a mask. The same with the postman.

There's definitely a stigma from my mother as if it's HIV or some STI.

She announced this to people who has no bearing on my every day life and on my health and there was no need for it. Thankfully these people were nice about it but I'm fuming at my mother because there's no need to announce it. If it was up to my mother I will be put into isolation for another few more months until at the least the town knows about me having covid.

Show quote history

Wonder if she’s ever met and chatted to someone with HIV irl 🙄. Wonder what she thinks about cold sores/oral herpes that the majority of people will have? Also wondering what she thinks about monkey pox that can be caught just through skin contact?

Over the past couple of years there have been posts on MN likening covid to HIV and since the latter can be stigmatised the inference is those who’ get either illness should be ashamed - maybe wear sackcloth and cover ourselves in ashes 🤨🤣.

Actually it sounds like she’s hyped up about it as it’s visited her house. At least you have a level head n your shoulders. Sorry you have to go into work if you’re feeling crap. My DD tested positive today and is gutted she can’t face going out in the sun to enjoy it 😔.

XenoBitch · 11/07/2022 21:44

I tested positive last weekend. Since found out that someone I was with at the same time has also got Covid, and she is a teacher so it is had pretty big impact on her work life etc.
I feel awful. It feels like I have wrecked everything for her. She ended up in hospital last time with blood clots, so I feel like I am putting her at risk for that too.
I know that is not the case, that is is just how a virus goes.
Also, I am not vaccinated, and I have already had a friend sound disappointed that I am not in hospital as a result.

Notwashingup · 11/07/2022 21:49

I’m a postie and there’s a guy in our office tested positive, out delivering mail. It would’ve raised an eyebrow if your mum had warned him and he’d said snap! I think people are more fed-up/ annoyed by covid than sympathetic to people with it.

echt · 11/07/2022 23:39

Wonder if she’s ever met and chatted to someone with HIV irl 🙄. Wonder what she thinks about cold sores/oral herpes that the majority of people will have? Also wondering what she thinks about monkey pox that can be caught just through skin contact?

All this HIV chat from the OP's mum is an inference by the OP. They haven't actually said that their mum said Covid is like HIV/STI.

echt · 11/07/2022 23:41

My employer came in sick. Coughing with sinitus. Without a mask. He said he tested at home but it was negative. I never by his voice it was bullshit. Lo and behold here I am now with covid

I know I should be wearing a mask but no, I am refusing to wear a mask now in work. No way

What a charmer you are OP Hmm

HotSauceCommittee · 11/07/2022 23:45

Is it time to get your own place to live, OP?

Dishh · 12/07/2022 02:28

@XenoBitch

Also, I am not vaccinated, and I have already had a friend sound disappointed that I am not in hospital as a result.

Clearly this person cannot be your friend if you really think they feel this about you? This is horrifying.

Where I live there isn't any stigma attached to Covid. Catching it is considered simply bad luck. Someone carrying on like the OP's mother doesn't reflect stigma at all. In fact, she seems to want people to know that the OP has COVID.