While you’re sanitising your groceries...

I’ve noticed some very bizarre behaviour around the world in the last four months. People are so petrified of setting foot outside their homes because of Covid they’ve forgotten that certain types of dangers are lurking right under their noses, inside the home they think is safe.

Yesterday I saw my neighbour in the building doing her walk along the corridor. She was wearing a mask and gloves and was traipsing back and forth to get her exercise in. She’s in her seventies and I noticed how she didn’t look the same. She just looked off colour.

That’s danger number 1. Not setting foot outside your house for months at a time means a lack of vitality, lack of enthusiasm, depression and stress, all of which hit your immune system. Most people isolating themselves, and in some cases, mandated to do so because of age restrictions, will look ill because they’ve had no fresh air or sun for months. In fact, some people seem to have become conditioned to isolate themselves even when there are no restrictions. And what’s more, they are doing so in the guise of a lockdown which was lifted along time ago. Members of various women’s groups on Facebook recently posted comments about activities they were doing at home - ‘during the lockdown’ — when there isn’t one.

These women are either on a different planet or irresponsible with their words.

Danger number two is also biological but has nothing to do with the virus. We have now surrounded our homes with gallons of potent cleaners and sanitisers. We have bleach, disinfectants, 70% or more isopropyl alcohol and numerous hand sanitisers that we’re using allday. Washing hands properly is essential even when there is no immediate viral danger but to use chemicals constantly to disinfect your surroundings poses toxic dangers.

Fumes from chemicals and sprays build up in your isolated environment which you and your children then breathe in. Moreover, hand sanitisers are alcohol based and, even people who are self-isolating, use them as extra precaution before handling food. I don’t get it. Isopropyl alcohol can be abused by unstable people. Did you read about how 3 men became very ill, one of them going blind, after drinking hand sanitiser? Who does that? I think even small residues on your hands can be toxic when ingested.

Unfortunately, danger number three is not even biological. It is behavioural. The first of these is an increase in spousal abuse. When people were going to their offices, both parties got an 8 to 10-hourreprieve from one another. But when staying in close quarters for 24hours a day every day for months, tensions are bound to run high and that’s when both verbal and physical abuse will start. Global stats prove this. In fact, even a late teen stuck at home, unable to meet his friends, can have either a meltdown or lose his temper with his siblings and parents. In this case, the results can and have been tragic.

The second of these behavioural dangers is an increase in cybercrime, increase in SIM card fraud, increase in bank fraud, increase in credit and debit card fraud, increase in hacking of laptops and an increase in spying. With people isolating they are relying more and more on technology so that they don’t have to go out. More meetings are now online using the many platforms that are now available. People seem to have completely forgotten that hackers may be listening in to their confidential board meetings, team meetings and project updates.

Screens are being shared, messages are being exchanged and top secret comments about top secret projects are now being made online. Ask yourself this, could someone be eavesdropping on your conversation? If your answer is that you’re not sure then you have a problem.

Those who have chosen to self-isolate, despite there being no restrictions, have made themselves vulnerable to all kinds of online frauds. SIM card swaps, credit and debit card frauds and computer hacking, using spyware, viruses and key loggers, were on the rise in recent years anyway but people are so distracted with sanitizing groceries, OCD hand washing and constantly wiping down surfaces with toxic chemicals, that they have completely forgotten about how their lives might be being compromised by an outside agent, and that agent is not even the virus! It seems that many bad actors have used the virus to further their own evil agenda.