. >> reporter: when it comes to wearing a mask seattle writer wendy sparrow was way ahead of the curve. >> i have been wearing a mask during flu season and allergy season for years. people would look at me when i would walk into a store and they would stare at me. >> reporter: masks and hand sanitizer, both part of her lifelong mental health battle with ocd or obsessive compulsive disorder. >> i plan for all of the worst things that can happen. i have first aid kits everywhere, multiple ones in my house. somebody could get their head lopped off and i could get it back on with the first aid kits. >> reporter: you describe suffering from contamination phobia. can you explain what that is? >> as far as germs go, i see somebody sneeze, i am okay with it. i don't go to haz-mat levels of cleaning unless someone is sick and i lose my mind. >> reporter: she has been accused of overreacting for as long as she can remember until covid-19 came along. >> one of my friends came online and commented to me how does it feel to have mask wearing normalized finally. i am like i am not going to be stared

. >> reporter: when it comes to wearing a mask, seattle writer wendy sparrow was way ahead of the curve've been wearing a mask during flu season for -- and allergy season, for, like, years. and people would look at me when i would walk into a store and they would stare at me. >> reporter: masks and hand sanitizer is parte of sparrow's lifelong battle with o.c.d., or obsessive-compulsive disorder. >> i plan for all of the worst things that could happen. i have first-aid kits everywhere. i have, like, multiple ones in my house. >> reporter: first-aid kits? >> yes, first-aid kits. somebody could get their head lobbed off, and i probably could get it back on with the first-aid kits i have around. >> reporter: you describe yourself as suffering from something you call contamination phobia. can you explain what that is? >> as far as germs go, up until i see somebody sneeze or something, i'm usually okay with it. i don't go to hazmat levels of cleaning unless somebody is sick, and then i kind of lose my mind. >> reporter: she has been accused of overreacting for as long as she can remember unt