17 Covid rules you won’t believe were once a real thing

Today marks the second anniversary of the rollout of the Covid vaccination programme – which undoubtedly helped in the fight against the pandemic.

But the plethora of rules and advice people in Tayside and Fife lived with in 2020 sometimes verged on the surreal.

While some public health measures undoubtedly saved lives, there are others we’ll look back at with confusion.

Here are some of the most unusual…

1. You could only go outside for exercise once a day. Mind-blowing!
2. Couples were banned from having sex and discouraged from kissing if they didn’t live in the same household.
3. Advice was to wash your weekly shop – or set it aside for two days to ‘quarantine‘ it.
4. You could go for a walk on the golf course – but you could be fined it you took a club or balls to play a hole or two.

   

5. People spent hours queuing at B&M or B&Q but neighbours in Dundee and Angus couldn’t cross from a Level 2 area to a Level 3 without breaking the rules.
6. Alcohol could only be served with meals – and a Scotch egg was not a substantial meal… or was it… the row rumbled on!
7. And some resorted to faking funerals to be allowed to drink inside.
8. Cafes couldn’t open unless they did takeaways – then people stood around in groups drinking their takeaway coffees together.

   

9. Supermarket aisles selling clothing, bedding and books were taped off and deemed ‘non-essential’ to discourage people from going to supermarkets.
10. You could walk through a park or field – as long as you didn’t sit down for a picnic.
11. Sporting events, concerts, festivals, theatre – and even play parks were closed for months.
12. Worries about Covid transmission via paper led some to microwave their mail.
13. You could be with a colleague working all day inside but couldn’t sit on a bench with them outside, said the UK’s vaccination minister.
14. Fast-food stores opened while gyms and exercise classes had to stay closed.

    

15. Pubs turned down the volume on TVs to stop people shouting and potentially spreading Covid.
16. You couldn’t drive more than five miles in your car, even if you didn’t get out of it.
17. You couldn’t sing in church but you could at a football match.

• What was your experience of the pandemic? Do you remember any rules that now seem surreal? Let us know in the comments below.