I want to hear about how you left your mail in the box for several days before you picked it up and stuff like that.
There was a severe mask shortage where I lived (Netherlands), so any masks, gloves, etc went to the hospitals.
The government also did not advise masking up for that reason, they only recommended staying at home, distancing and sneezing in your elbow. So that is what I did for the first wave of the virus. Stay at home, and when I needed to go out for food I distanced myself as much as possible.
I mostly managed fine. People were pretty good at keeping distance, and I didn’t catch the virus till a year orso into the pandemic.
Though, there is one interaction I recall at the cash register at the Lidl. I am keeping 1.5m distance to the guy in front of me, so I put my items at the end of the conveyor belt. The guy behind me clearly does not appreciate that and stands as close to me as possible. After about a minute orso of him breathing down my neck, I try to politely ask the guy to please keep some distance, after which he threatens to beat my up in the parking lot for even daring to ask that.
I never went back to that supermarket for the rest of the pandemic.
Edit: There is also an interaction I recall where I was the asshole. During the early days of the pandemic I occasionally went cycling (since outdoors exercise was one of the few activities that was advised)
Two ladies are stopped at a traffic light, with some distance between them. I was just cycling on autopilot, so I stop slightly back from them between them, the way I always would. In hindsight it was obviously too close, but I didn’t register that immediately at the time.
They obviously call me out on that and ask me to please stay back, after which I had to awkwardly reverse and apologize.
I would have masked up, but it wasn’t possible to get masks in the UK. So I caught Covid and Long Covid instead.
PS. Mask up. It’s not gone.
I started hearing about covid on reddit back in December 2019. In another life, I worked at FDA and what I was hearing really scared me: my sister was immunocompromised, and I was terrified she’d contract the virus and die. So when I talk about what I was doing, recognize that we had to be taking extreme precautions, to avoid my sister getting infected by this virus that would kill her and that no one knew how to treat. Because of her health, we absolutely had to be a couple weeks ahead of whatever precautions were being taken by everyone else, and we took extreme precautions during the early months of the pandemic.
In a way being ahead of the curve was nice - everything we needed was easily available. But we were operating ahead of official advice, so we had to figure out our mitigation strategies ourselves. I bought a lot of stuff: N95 and surgical masks, surgical gloves, hand sanitizer, bleach, Lysol wipes, UV-C lights, copper foil, garbage bags, plastic wrap, medication for any ailment I could think of, extra prescription medications in case of supply chain issues, pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, overfilled my pantry with various staples, etc.
You mentioned handling groceries. In the very early days, when they were really worked about fomite transmission, I was the “outside contact” for my sister and a couple other friends with health issues. When someone needed something we didn’t have, I’d collect lists of whatever anyone needed from that store. I’d make two versions of the list: one master list for when I was in the store, and a separate per-person list that was stuck to the refrigerator for later reference.
I’d wear a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, surgical gloves, an N95 mask, then a surgical mask over top of the N95 to help filter out larger particles and extend the life of my N95 masks [more on supplies later]. I’d go to the store, buy whatever we needed, and put it in the trunk of the car: the trunk was the hot zone, where all the non-sterile stuff went. I’d open the car door, use the hand sanitizer to clean the trunk and car door handles and my car keys, then remove my gloves and toss them in a garbage bag the trunk as well. I’d take off my masks and put on a fresh surgical mask.
I’d get home, put on fresh gloves, prop open the doors, disinfect the handles, leave my shoes outside the front door, and bring all the bags into the kitchen; everything got piled into one section I’d taped off on the floor that I called the hot zone. Once everything was inside, I hung the used masks on a pole across the ceiling of the utility room, disinfected the trunk and car door handles again, along with my keys and the steering wheel, and disinfected the knobs on the front door.
I went into the utility room, removed my gloves and scrubbed my hands and forearms like a surgeon. Then I stripped my clothes off directly into the washer, scrubbed my hands again, and disinfected the outside of the washer. At this point, the only contaminated stuff should be the items I’d just bought - and myself. I brushed my teeth, used a disinfectant mouthwash, took a shower and scrubbed thoroughly.
I put on another mask, got dressed into another long-sleeved shirt and surgical gloves, and de-bagged everything I’d bought onto the counter in the hot zone - being very careful not to step onto floor in the taped-off “hot zone”. The empty bags went into the garbage out back, I changed my gloves, the doorknobs were decontaminated, and I mopped the floor with bleach, then removed the gloves and scrubbed my hands again. Now the only potentially contaminated stuff was on the hot zone counter.
I put on fresh gloves, and started disinfecting whatever we’d just bought. If it had a plastic covering, was a jar or can, it got washed with disinfectant. If it was cardboard, it got wiped down or scrubbed with Lysol wipes. Once something was clean, it got moved to the clean zone.
Odd-shaped items were an issue - think things like broccoli. I’d finish the all regular cans and boxes, take off my gloves and shirt, scrub my hands and arms, put on a new long-sleeved shirt and fresh gloves, and bring the odd-shaped items into the UV-C “chamber”. This was a large shelf that I’d lined in all directions with tin foil, with plastic wrap on top of that, that had a UV-C light strung across the top. [I don’t remember the specific technical details, but I remember obsessing and making sure I was buying a light in the correct range to kill viruses and stuff.] [Continued next comment]
I’d put the items in the chamber, turn on the light, and close the lid. After 15 minutes, the side facing the light would be fully decontaminated; I’d take them out, put them clean-side down on a sterile counter, throw out the plastic wrap that was on top of the tin foil, remove my gloves, scrub my hands, put on new gloves, put down fresh plastic, and put the items back in the chamber with a potentially contaminated side up, remove my gloves, close the chamber, set it to run another 15 minutes, scrub my hands, sterilize the counter where I’d put the item(s) down, then scrub my hands again. After doing all “six” sides, I deemed the item(s) sufficiently decontaminated and moved them to a “mostly sterile” section. If you’re keeping track, it took about 2 hours for each set of things to go through UV-C decontamination, so it was slow! Once all the UV-C decontamination was done, I’d wipe down the tin foil with Lysol wipes, let it dry, then put down a fresh layer of plastic wrap, ready for next time.
Once all the items were decontaminated, I’d scrub down the “hot zone” counter. Then I’d scrub my hands again and change my shirt and gloves, put on fresh sneakers, then I’d get out fresh bags and, using the lists on the fridge, re-pack the items per-person.
As mentioned, aside from myself, I was handling buying stuff for my sister and two other friends. I’d pack up everything going to one person and put it in the back seat of my car: the trunk was the “hot zone”; the front seat was the “I’m potentially infected” zone; and the rear seat was the clean zone. Whenever I was in the car, I’d open the front passenger-side window, and the rear driver-side window; this created a natural “wind” barrier between myself and the items in the back seat, to minimize the risk of my accidentally reinfecting the items. I’d also wear a mask and gloves, to be careful; I didn’t want to infect and potentially kill someone I cared about.
I’d go to my friend’s place / my sister’s place and drop everything off six feet from their front door, and stand back while they brought everything inside.
Then I’d go home, disinfect car doors, keys and doorknobs, leave my shoes outside, strip off my clothes directly into the washer, scrub my hands, start the laundry, take a shower, put on fresh clothesc and yet another pair of shoes, and drop off stuff to the second person. Then home again, more disinfecting, another change of clothes and shoes, another shower, and the final drop-off. Then home, * more* disinfecting, another change of clothes, and another shower.
Honestly? It was fucking exhausting. I was so glad when they decided fomite transmission wasn’t the big risk they’d thought it was!
Wore kf94 masks every time we went out, and it wasn’t often at the height of the pandemic. Always carried hand sanitizer and applied it after we touched anything (i.e. door handles). Wiped down groceries with isopropyl alcohol wipes (we still do today). Fruits and vegetables were submerged in water with vinegar for 10 mins before going to the fridge. Avoided standing downwind from other people.
Stay at home… easy to do since I was like 17.
I don’t even touch the mail, literally just hid in a room xD
Then I got suicidal and got a bit carless about covid since I really feel like dying… so I got covid… and I thought my mom would care about me… but then she blamed me for “infecting the family” 🫠 Average Asian parenting… It’s fine, I got used to it…
Probably the final thing that triggered the start of my depression.
Thanks, CCP.
That shit caused so much Anti Asian hatecrimes…
I basically just browse the internet all day…
The only reason I even got infected is because mom wanted me to work for two months in summer 2021 before school started, this time in person, again, so I got infected at work…
so yea, my entire family had to stay home and quarrantine because of covid
My my mom blames me for getting infected because she wanted me to work a job during covid… how does that make sense?
But I didn’t die, that’s the closest to a “suicide attempt” I’ve tried, don’t have the balls to actually jump from a bridge lol
You know its kinda funny. Im a masker but during the pandemic I was amazed at things people seemed to do or say they do. On the one side you had neighbors using their dog to trades stuff and its like. Um a big warm biologically active surface. Not the smartest. Then like people don’t seem to understand distancing and masking in terms of math. Outdoor is different than indoor and ventilation matters. I had some people saying they did not go outside during lockdowns (not lockdowns like someone actively had it in the household but city wide ones). Its like you can go outside just don’t get within ten feet. That being said really early on when we did not know shit my wife would spray down deliveries with lysol and only opened them to check what they had but left them be until needed rather than putting them on shelves and such.
A guy came into the clinic I work in wearing a spray paint respirator mask with a beekeeper’s veil overtop, and with dishwashing gloves that he had pulled ordinary latex gloves over. It was wild.
A spray paint respirator might work better than an N95. My paint mask is a P100.
Masked up.
Isolating with my wife.
After grocery shopping, I would change clothes in my detached garage and wait 30 minutes before going in the house. Since the grocery store was 30 minutes away I would piss in a bucket in the garage.
Wow and here I was thinking I was being thorough by cleaning my phone with lysol wipes when I got home
What I always do, avoid society.
In the very first days, that is, when I had read about that virus that appeared in China and threatened to infect and kill many in the whole world, I had to make a decision:
Should I fear for my life?
It took me a few days, and I decided against it.
Later I did not do so many of the crazy things other people did out of fear. I did what seemed reasonable, like some distancing, wearing masks, washing hands…
I stretched the truth a bit to ensure I wouldn’t be listed as a “critical to be onsite” employee. My sports-induced asthma that I manage just fine was enough for me to check “respiratory illnesses”. So I worked from home and avoided the shit tasks that landed on all the people who wanted to go onsite. They did get prioritized for vaccines months before I got mine, so some pros for them as least. Barely any of the work actually required we be physically present though, it was a pile of crap.
Only shopped for groceries every 2 weeks.
Only left the house at all once every 2 weeks.
Didn’t see anyone at all for 3 months straight, and even then it was only twice between March, and July of 2020.
I still don’t think I’ve fully recovered from that tbh.
I was considered an essential worker, and so I toddled off to work every day as usual. I remember while my spouse was driving me in how eerie it seemed with how quiet the city was, and seeing 68 cents per liter gasoline prices was such a shock. The quiet was what really got to me.
Washed my pets paws with water and soap after coming from a walk for a few months. Washed ny hands everytime i got home, something i only do now before a meal.
I hung up signs on the outside of my door reminding me to wash my hands when I got home and on the inside reminding me to wear a mask when I go out.
Bought n95 masks, gloves, and sanitizer. Also bought full-body covering (used by care workers and such to avoid being covered in various fluids) though those never got used. I mostly stayed home except for once every two weeks or so (groceries, etc.)
Thing is, my friends and I all think we got it before it was officially in Japan and, indeed, I was a close contact of someone who got it and was immune so it seems plausible.
