COVID Lockdown Insanity Stories Go Viral Six Years After Absurd Overreaction, Are Surreal To Read

Can you believe it's been six years since the insanity of COVID spread across the country?

I remember President Donald Trump addressing the nation in March 2020 like it was yesterday. Not in a million years did I expect the events that would follow.

Mass lockdowns became the new normal, people were screamed at if they didn't socially distance, restaurants closed, people stayed indoors, and it felt like the country collectively lost its mind.

Time sure flies when you're having fun — and making rational decisions!

Was COVID the most unnecessary overreaction in modern history? (Credit: Getty Images Creatives)

COVID Lockdown Stories Go Viral

People like to look back at the old days to share stories. It's human nature, and there's a Reddit thread popping with people sharing their experiences during the opening days of the lockdowns.

It's honestly surreal to read in 2026.

Check out some of the best stories below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com:

• Empty shelves of toilet paper and the feeling that this is all some kind of movie
• I remember thinking, "Whoa, if this gets really bad, we could be locked down for a few weeks!" In many ways, we've never recovered.
• Was on my 4th day of a new job and they said pack up and go home with no training or anything - trained myself.
• I was "essential" so not much changed for me. Funny how "essential workers" were paid the least.
• Cops aren't pulling over for anything, I remember in Colorado the governor passed a law allowing restaurants to serve alcohol with takeout orders.
• No traffic, stimmy checks, less people in stores, work from home for more desk job people, short lines at Disney World. Aside from, you know, all those people dying and widespread economic turmoil it was pretty cool.
• There was a Senior Center near us where COVID killed almost everyone in there. It was an endless stream of ambulances and coroner trucks when you drove by. Pretty grim.
• I picked up a new sporty car a couple months after everything shut down. I remember taking it out at night on the freeway and just being able to let it rip because I was the only soul out there. God I miss that.
• I’m 31 one now. I still feel 25. It’s weird.
• I will be 38 this fall. I've spend a majority of my 30s in a during and "post" Covid world. It really is strange.
• I saw a video uploaded here in November/December of a hospital in china and people literally dying in the corridors and nurses crying scared and confused. I knew then what was happening. I showed my colleagues and said "you’ll see, this is coming here". Lo and behold.
• I was supposed to go to Palm Springs with a friend in March, and about mid-February she was like "yeah, we're not going." I hadn't been paying much attention but I started to after that. I had masks already (earthquake supplies because I lived in LA). She saw it coming long before I did.
• My husband rolled his eyes at me when I bought shelf stable goods and a pound of yeast. He didn’t roll his eyes at me when we had homemade bread.
• I never understood hoarding toilet paper
• It was insane, even here in Sweden bought all the toilet paper, not because there was ever any threat of actually running out, but basically because people saw the US doing it and then by association thought they would too... The irony of it was that one of my city's biggest factories for toilet paper ramped up production to meet the demand and in doing so, the factory caught fire and thus there really was a lack of toilet paper...
• People will hoard what they’re told may be in scarcity
• I was SO disappointed when I found out one of my aunts stockpiled her garage with toilet paper. She's a school teacher and always taught me to do the right thing, so it was super shocking to see the selfishness of it.
• I was sure everything would be normal again in May lmao
• Two weeks to flatten the curve!
• Flatten the curve omg. It’s been a while.
• I have a VERY vivid memory from the end of February in 2020. I was staring at the Smoky Mountains while filling up the gas tank before driving out of Gatlinburg, TN. It was a bright, sunny day without a cloud in sight. Looking out at the blue sky, I was thinking about the COVID buzz and wondering what would come of it. I always remember that as my "pre-pandemic" moment. It was right on the horizon, but I had no clue how much things were about to change.
• I always think back to being at the sky bar at the Denver airport. It was March 2nd I think and we were coming back from a late winter ski trip. the airport was absolutely packed and we were absolutely wasted at the bar, shoulder to shoulder, talking and laughing. And then a few weeks later it seems like the whole world was empty.

I have two major memories from the start of COVID that are appropriate enough to share. First, I had gotten some solid information about what was likely going to play out shortly before it was announced publicly, and I shared that with a small group of people. In response, we decided to go out on the town one last time. It was an insane rager. Worth it? Without question, because no restaurant was open near me again for indoor dining for like two months.

It was utterly insane. Second, I went to the grocery store at the start of lockdowns, but not because I really needed anything. I always stay stocked up on food just for a situation like this. I was ready by default. I was just curious what the nice grocery store in my neighborhood would look like.

It was apocalyptic. Everything was gone, and I mean *EVERYTHING.* There was virtually zero food of any kind, absolutely no fresh meat, the toilet paper and paper towels were wiped out, and the pasta aisle looked like a shopping aisle in North Korea.

It was at that moment when I remember thinking to myself that we were about to witness the most unnecessary overreaction possible.

I was right!  

Insane COVID lockdown stories are going viral on Reddit. (Credit: Getty Images Creatives)

I have a million other COVID stories to share, but we'll save that for another time. Do you have a fun COVID overreaction story? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.