Over the past two years, COVID-19 has produced major social, economic, and political changes around the globe. From major restrictions on socialization and travel to unemployment and economic hardships largely generated by lockdowns and curfews, COVID transformed how we relate to each other and the world around us. At the same time, the virus itself and its social meanings have changed over time in marked ways. This paper seeks to understand how ordinary people in Egypt and Jordan have viewed and managed the virus, often in ways that are very similar. In both countries, during the first part of the pandemic, for someone to “yicoren” (an Arabic verb that means to become inflicted with the Corona virus) was greatly stigmatized and negatively viewed to the degree that families had to hide the illness of their loved ones. Even when someone died of COVID, the news was carefully covered up and the family pretended that the person died of some other cause. Most recently, people have become more open about the illness and clearly communicated when a death happened due to COVID. Drawing on ethnographic research in Jordan and Egypt, the “Ethics of Care” approach, new feminist materialism, and Mary Douglas’ concepts of purity and danger, this paper explores the fear, disgust, and shame that initially were attached to COVID and how and why feelings and views changed over time. The narratives of illness and the tragic stories I heard in both countries have generated many questions: What was the impact of lockdowns, curfews, and physical distancing on the daily life of communities where relationality is central to daily life? Why there was such a strong stigma initially attached to the virus, and how did people manage that stigma? Who was burdened with caring (both physically and socially) for the ill? Equally important, who did the caring for the deceased? Who washed, carried, and buried the body? Why did views of the virus change? How did people’s reactions to the virus relate to state policies and global discourses?