# Ever Watch Something Over 2 Years Old, And Think "COVID!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 21, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443 "2021-12-21T23:35:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/1 "2021-12-21T23:35:22Z")
I was watching a Robert Plant interview, and the guy asking him questions was coughing, and they were close in contact, and they had an audience, and I thought, “Oh yeah, COVID didn’t exist back then”. This happens a lot, even when I watch older stuff… I used to always say how I was glad that there was no internet until I was in middle school (with younger cousins obviously affected) and now it’s “I’m glad COVID didn’t exist during my childhood” since it’s all my nieces know. Her first day in school was in a mask. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/2 "2021-12-22T11:06:01Z")
Yes, and I also notice people wearing masks pre covid and think WTF? I saw an old clip of the Newly Wed game on YouTube where one of the wives was wearing a mask. Noticed an extra in the background of West World wearing a mask. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/3 "2021-12-22T13:14:36Z")
I saw many people in Asia (2012) wear masks - probably trying to avoid tourist’s germs from their host countries. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/4 "2021-12-22T13:41:27Z")
When I was in China, it was an established part of the culture to wear a mask if you have a cold. I don’t know if this pre-dates SARS, but it was definitely there years before Covid. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/5 "2021-12-22T14:22:46Z")
Yeah, I was in Thailand… At first, I thought it might be possible smog, but I don’t think that was it, at least not in Bangkok. I don’t remember seeing masks in Kanchanaburi. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/6 "2021-12-22T14:48:59Z")
I find myself watching movies and asking myself “if this were really set in 2020, there would be masks everywhere. I wonder if there will ever be a _real_ 2020-2022 period piece where people are constantly donning and doffing masks?” I’m guessing probably no. None of us wanted to live in such a time, none of us wants to remember it, nobody’s ever gonna sit through a movie about the great Russo-Ukranian War of 2022 and get mad about realism because “hey, shouldn’t a lot of these people be wearing masks?” We’re going to try as hard as we can to forget everything we experienced and learned before the next pandemic in 10 years or so. Some are already there. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/7 "2021-12-22T15:34:32Z")
If I were a producer, I don’t think I would acknowledge it at all… it gets in the way of the story. Like on Chicago Fire. One of their main sets is in a bar. So their work around was to have a bar outside… In Chicago… In the middle of winter. Yeah no. I’m not buying that. ---
**Author:** ![ArtBeforeScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@ArtBeforeScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArtBeforeScience)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/8 "2021-12-22T16:33:55Z")
Even thinking about a cruise ship, on TV or in the news. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/9 "2021-12-23T00:12:56Z")
I’ve thought about it sometimes when watching a typical crowd scene–people in a crowded restaurant, store, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/10 "2021-12-23T00:30:58Z")
Watching the Great British Baking Show from a few years back, and they’re all group hugging at the end. I’m reacting like Dracula to a sunny day. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/11 "2021-12-23T22:12:00Z")
Same… All the time. Even love stories. I guess my brain is a virus now, lol. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-watch-something-over-2-years-old-and-think-covid/956443/12 "2021-12-23T22:15:34Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I find myself watching movies and asking myself “if this were really set in 2020, there would be masks everywhere. The TV show “The Good Doctor” did a few episodes (maybe a whole season, I can’t remember) which were set in the real world of the early days of the pandemic. Then they abruptly stopped and went back to magic land where there was no pandemic.