Coronavirus : Early Days

[Wills2]

scottyp123 said:

If people are trawling the old threads on the early days of corona I'd love to see posts from certain people calling others crazy conspiracy theory idiots for suggesting things like lockdowns and masks would happen where as now those same people are saying they have always been in favour of them.

I don't think you'd have to be a conspiracy theorist to understand that minimising peoples interactions is a valid tool when trying to stop the spread of a virus, but you do have to be one to think it's part of a global effort to control us per se.

[Yeti97]

I remember being in the office a week-ish before the first lockdown, joking that people should get food now before people panic buy. Little did we know it would be true. Annoyingly didn't follow my own advice and my weekly shop landed just after everything went crazy. Still quite wild to think our whole office packed up and went home in a single day. We're still fully WFH now with no scheduled return to the office. Doesn't feel like 17 months have passed at all. Going to be very strange looking back on this in 10 years' time.

[anonymous-user]

Wills2 said:

scottyp123 said:

If people are trawling the old threads on the early days of corona I'd love to see posts from certain people calling others crazy conspiracy theory idiots for suggesting things like lockdowns and masks would happen where as now those same people are saying they have always been in favour of them.

I don't think you'd have to be a conspiracy theorist to understand that minimising peoples interactions is a valid tool when trying to stop the spread of a virus, but you do have to be one to think it's part of a global effort to control us per se.

Stories about ‘the great reset’ and marxist plots to control us by keeping us locked up (for some reason) seem to have been disappearing as everything is opening up again.

It’s definitely been a very interesting event on PHs and elsewhere for a huge variety of reasons. I expect there’s been far more people posting on here as we/they’re not at work as much or were in lockdowns, plus tensions were much higher for many with worries about our or loved ones health and jobs etc then there’s the whole home schooling thing too.

I remember at the beginning of the pandemic reading that restricting your sources of information to a few trusted sources was a good idea during an emergency, this turned out to be pretty good advice as many social media sites became overrun with fake news and opinion dressed as fact.

Although PHs is often a great source of real time information and full of knowledgeable people with real world experience, the pandemic threads on here did become a bit mad sometimes.

[scottyp123]

Wills2 said:

scottyp123 said:

If people are trawling the old threads on the early days of corona I'd love to see posts from certain people calling others crazy conspiracy theory idiots for suggesting things like lockdowns and masks would happen where as now those same people are saying they have always been in favour of them.

I don't think you'd have to be a conspiracy theorist to understand that minimising peoples interactions is a valid tool when trying to stop the spread of a virus, but you do have to be one to think it's part of a global effort to control us per se.

What I meant was there would have been various posts back in January/February 2020 where some posters said along the lines of "I think the shops and pubs might shut" or "it looks like we will be locked in our own homes for a bit".

Certain people will have replied "stop being a conspiracy theorist, those are wild and unjustified claims and are downright loony, it will never happen"

those same certain people today will be saying "I told you lockdowns and masks would save thousands of lives, the government did the right thing." It would just be fun to see some evidence of it thats all.

[vixen1700]

Going to work in the City March 2020 there may have been a handful of people wearing masks out of the thousands I passed each day.

Last normal day was Friday March 13th, going to the V&A with friends.

Then a few days later we were sent home from the office with our laptops. Didn't go out for a week as this terrible plague was going on and the telly was filled with terror and Mark Strong telling everybody to stay at home.

Went out for a short walk after being cooped up for a week and it was sureal and scarey. No cars, people queing outside supermarkets wearing masks, police helicoptors hovering overhead and a real fear in the air. It was awful and I couldn't wait to get home. I'll never forget that day.
After that though it was fine, enjoying good walks each day as the weather back then was so good.

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

I remember lots of people painting fences (and other mundane DIY tasks).
The novelty appeared to last about 2 weeks.
It seemed like end of days in the city centres but The Tour de France seemed to visit every cycle path near me.

I do remember one bloke queuing outside Tesco.
He had completely bandaged/ wrapped his own head in true The Invisible Man fashion.
This was before masks were mandated but he was waaaay ahead of the game.

[speedchick]

Days kind of merge into each other, but I think it was around February when people started getting worried here. I remember going to buy some anti bac wipes for the pay and display machines on the car parks, it was more for my own safety than anything else. People at the town hall were starting to work from home. Then as March progressed there was a constant stream of computers and chairs being loaded into peoples' cars in the town hall car park.

16th March my daughter moved pubs, I think she managed about 2 shifts before they got closed.

It was starting to go very quiet in town, although all the usual elderly people were out and about, I reckon more for continuing their routines, and I think us in town were the only people they speak to normally. Shops starting to announce they were closing.

23rd March, watched the broadcast with dismay. Went to work as normal 24th but spent the day in the office and also helping some stalls move nearer the doors in the market hall. Husband got stood down, but I was told to come in next day.

25th, it was like a ghost town, was stood down mid afternoon, told to take the works phone home and wait to be redeployed, possibly onto the council helping out team.

28th April, returned to work, part car park part envirmental health ( helping with covid work) still very quiet in town. But during the start of June was involved with advising businesses etc for reopening.

July onwards was weekly info going out to hospitality due to changing rules. Commiserating with the ones that had to close due to the tier system.

Masks, tiers, lockdowns and a pretty miserable Christmas, followed by full time covid work since Feb 2021, was nice helping businesses through the stages of reopening.

Finally caught covid myself 2 weeks ago, and the covid job comes to an end on the 31st and it's back to car park duties for me.

It's been an experience, I get what they did last March as we didn't know what we were dealing with and worse case scenario was the way to go. But in my opinion, it's gone on for 12 months longer than it should.

And who knows what autumn and winter will bring

[kiethton]

I remember doing 8 meetings a day over 3 days in the west end/city with a temperature/aches etc. in late February/early March 2020.

On 11th March I was in Edinburgh with a day of meetings and was due to spend the next week going from the east to west coast USA. As i was in Scotland out office was closed, with all of my bits there, the USA trip was cancelled and I was sent to WFH alongside most others in the company.

From there came 7 day working weeks due to the volume of work required/market volatility but the burden had eased a little by early April.

Only saving grace was that the weather was great so I spent my time after work/weekends playing golf in the local park which had a golf course (they'd closed my own), making the most of the empty roads to hoon around in the car - trips to Cromer for fish & chips or Hastings for ice cream and back in time for a BBQ with neighbours....

Got a little annoying in the end having to have the flat tidy to accommodate friends/family over each evening rather than just going somewhere where we didn't have to worry. As you can tell I have been hugely sceptical of the total government over-reach on our civil liberties from day 1, thankfully most friends and family are the same so we just cracked on amongst ourselves.

[Triumph Man]

From my house I can hear the swish and roar of the A36, not overly loudly, but I know it's there, and it's always there. The morning after lockdown was announced it was eerily quiet, no traffic noise at all.

I had to do a work visit 2 weeks in and saw one other car on the whole trip.

Edited by Triumph Man on Thursday 12th August 10:54

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

Triumph Man said:

From my house I can hear the swish and roar of the A36, not overly loudly, but I know it's there, and it's always there. The morning after lockdown was announced it was eerily quiet, no traffic noise at all.

Did the birds get noisier to compensate ? (I know they didn't but they seemed to).

Clear blue skies, no aircraft. Peace and tranquility with an undercurrent of foreboding ... Quite surreal.

[sim72]

Driving to work along an M6 almost devoid of vehicles other than commercial ones was surreal.

It was like the traffic volume at 3am, except in bright daylight.

[airsafari87]

This could turn out to be an interesting thread and a good insight in to other people's timelines too. I will add my own once I get some time to.

FAO Cherryowen
If you are willing to update your OP with your take on the timeliness of events. Ie 3 weeks to flatten the curve, government 'Masks do not work' announcements, Government 'Definitely wear a mask' announcements, cancelling Christmas would be inhumane, alas Christmas must be cancelled etc ... it would be interesting to see, 8 know you have posted similar timelines in other threads.

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

I think the timeline from government went something like this;

Denial.
Crack on with sporting events while the rest of Europe were in/ preparing to lock down.
Realise UK business are taking things seriously and making their own preparations.
Realise (too late) that there is a serious issue here regarding NHS capacity.
Panic.
Eventually get your finger out and do what you should have done sooner.
Attempt to cover arse and have your stooges lined up ... Still think this will blow over and go on national TV declaring you continue to shake hands with everybody.

[rfsteel]

I had a field full of these guys rock up whilst Boris gave us his first Alas speech 3 weeks after trying to "flatten the curve".

They were then able to reside in said field for 3 weeks, using the hedgerows as latrines before they moved themselves on.

If the govt or the police couldn't control a visible virus, how did they expect to control an invisible one ?

[Jasandjules]

Wills2 said:

I don't think you'd have to be a conspiracy theorist to understand that minimising peoples interactions is a valid tool when trying to stop the spread of a virus, but you do have to be one to think it's part of a global effort to control us per se.

So you are happy for the Govt to have absolute control over your life? Let them tell you whom you may have in your house even?

[beko1987]

Early March 2020 - Various information signs about this coronavirus thing started going up in our office, we all joked about it and paid it little heed (their still up now, looking alot more dog-eared though). Then W/C 8th (on a random thursday I recall) we alll got told to spend 2 days woeking from home as a trial, we never went back...

Also, my mum was selling their house, and had it all down to waiting for the money to come in when Lockdown hit properly. The move could still go ahead as the chain/process was far enough along that no viewings needed to be done. Eventually moving day happened, and I booked a day or so off work to help. My stepdad emailed me their moving documents to "keep in the car incase you're stopped" as the rules allowed the move to happen, and as I was helping, I was allowed on the road.

Was flipping surreal joining the M40 in late march and being the ONLY car on the road, was like the movies (caught myself speeding quite hard as I had no other cars to judge speed against, naughty me). Ditto the drive from old house to new, not a single car to be seen! (then the chain fell down as we'd unloaded the 2nd van into the new place, that was fun, a week later we got to do it all over again! I've still not beaten my personal best of 28 minutes from my door to my mums new door because there's other cars on the road now, it's physically impossible.

I don't watch TV nor have the radio on so the rest of the time has pretty much passed me by, various family updated me on the mandatory stuff I needed to care about and everything else I just ignored.

Back in the office on 'Hybrid Working' now and tbh yesterday was pre-pandemic in terms of the commute. I still want to WFH as I enjoy it more than sitting in the office

[JuanCarlosFandango]

Interesting thread. It became pretty obvious to me that it was all a load of nonsense early on and that people were deriving some false sense of importance and purpose from it. I thought it was an amusing diversion that would blow over in a few weeks and it looked all set to until they doubled down with mask rules in the middle of summer.

Sad that some people still cling to it

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

JuanCarlosFandango said:

Interesting thread. It became pretty obvious to me that it was all a load of nonsense early on and that people were deriving some false sense of importance and purpose from it. I thought it was an amusing diversion that would blow over in a few weeks and it looked all set to until they doubled down with mask rules in the middle of summer.

Sad that some people still cling to it

I think you're right that things went on/ are going on for too long
However, I don't think that this was all a load of nonsense.
The strain on (and potential collapse of) the NHS was very real. That was what lockdowns were all about.
A health system which cannot cope is not acceptable politically, morally or medically.
I understand the ramifications of the NHS becoming the National Covid Service and the effects this has had on many things, but what do you suggest ?

[Flanders.]

I was in Glasgow for work when the first Lockdown was announced. I remember watching it in my Hotel Room with a takeaway as all the restaurants had closed anyway.

The next morning when I went down the girl behind the desk said I was the last guest in the Hotel. I then had a meeting in Edinburgh before driving back to my Girlfriends house in Bedfordshire. The roads were dead and the journey took less than 6 hours.

Meanwhile, everyone in the office had been told to WFH that morning so when I went in to collect some items after returning from Scotland the office had looked like (and still does) a bomb had gone off.

[JuanCarlosFandango]

Maximus Decimus Meridius said:

I think you're right that things went on/ are going on for too long
However, I don't think that this was all a load of nonsense.
The strain on (and potential collapse of) the NHS was very real. That was what lockdowns were all about.
A health system which cannot cope is not acceptable politically, morally or medically.
I understand the ramifications of the NHS becoming the National Covid Service and the effects this has had on many things, but what do you suggest ?

I would suggest that if we had never heard of Covid 19 we would have had a slightly higher death rate than average last spring and forgotten all about it by now. It is a game to make people feel important.