UGH, help me ladies figure out how best to proceed (COVID19 exposure???)...

[pinkmomagain]

DH went to help an older relative install a TV in their apartment wearing a mask today. Removed to have a coffee with them (grrrrrrrr).

Just found out that this older relative interacted with others 4 days ago who have tested positive for COVID. Older relative went to get tested upon the news this evening.

How do we proceed in our home? Assume DH has been exposed? DH will quarantine in our house but - should he self-isolate? (Right now I have him wearing a mask and I'm thinking of sleeping in a different room.)

Should we automatically have him test in 5 days, even if older relative's test come back negative?

Are the kids and I considered exposed? Do we need to quarantine?

We've been very careful about socializing (other than the wake/funeral I posted about a few weeks ago) so I'm kind of clueless about how to proceed.

Thanks so much in advance.

[jgenie]

My answer comes from a place of privilege and my kids are high risk. DH can work from home and I am a SAHM. Other people in different circumstances would likely make different choices. If this were my family, we would assume DH was positive and proceed accordingly. He would isolate in his office and our bedroom. He would wear a mask when moving between office and bedroom. He would only use the master bathroom. I would bring him all of his meals and would wash all dishes in the dishwasher. We would all fully quarantine at home. No contact delivery for groceries or take out only. If he doesn’t display symptoms in two weeks we would assume he was negative. If someone else in the family needed to leave the house, we would have DH tested. If positive, we would all remain home for two weeks. DH travels extensively in normal times so not having him the daily mix isn’t unusual. If I were the one to get sick, I don’t think I would be able to isolate due to DH’s schedule. I have a friend who got sick and did isolate from her family. Her DC learned to cook very quickly. P & PTs that your DH and elderly relative do not get sick.

[SnuggleBuggles]

That’s a tough one. Despite good intentions I don’t think my family would be successful keeping someone isolated once in the house. But, if possible, I would have the whole family quarantine. That’s how we handled when ds1 returned from college.


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[pinkmomagain]

It's tough because DH hasn't been exposed to someone who has tested positive (yet), but that person has.
But I guess you have to assume that the person is positive until they get a negative result?

[StantonHyde]

Can you call your primary care provider? if the relative's test comes back negative, then I don't see an issue. You could certainly have DH test 5 days after seeing the relative. If his test is negative then you do not have to quarantine everyone. No public health body that I know of recommends quarantine if negative test results.

[gatorsmom]

MY answer comes from a place of privilege. DH can work from home and I am a SAHM. Other people in different circumstances would likely make different choices. If this were my family, we would assume DH was positive and proceed accordingly. He would isolate in his office and our bedroom. He would wear a mask when moving between office and bedroom. He would only use the master bathroom. I would bring him all of his meals and would wash all dishes in the dishwasher. We would all fully quarantine at home. No contact delivery for groceries or take out only. If he doesn’t display symptoms in two weeks we would assume he was negative. If someone else in the family needed to leave the house, we would have DH tested. If positive, we would all remain home for two weeks. DH travels extensively in normal times so not having him the daily mix isn’t unusual. If I were the one to get sick, I don’t think I would be able to isolate due to DH’s schedule. I have a friend who got sick and did isolate from her family. Her DC learned to cook very quickly. P & PTs that your DH and elderly relative do not get sick.

This is exactly what we would do, and did, last fall. Dh met with an employee in our garage for 30 minutes although they were 6 feet apart. No masks but garage doors open. Employee called that night to say his wife tested positive for COVID19 and he was going for a test the next day. That night Dh slept in the guest bedroom and we made him work in the sunroom (4seasons porch) off the kitchen. Anytime he came in the public areas of the house, he wore a mask. When the employee’s test came back negative, Dh stopped quarantining.

OP, I’m sorry you are going through this. I hope your Dh handles this better than my Dh did.

[georgiegirl]

We were in this situation with DD. She was in close contact (no mask) with a girl who was in close contact (masked) with someone who tested positive. We isolated DD in her room until her friend tested negative. Her friend didn’t have any symptoms, so we figured that was good enough (negative test, plus no symptoms). She was trapped in her room for about 3 days. She did come down to eat (alone), but we made sure she wasn’t near any else. At that time, cases were record high in our area.


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[AngB]

I guess I'm in the minority but I'd proceed as normal considering this is a potential exposure of an exposure. It's not like the person your DH was with tested positive. Back in March I got a call from my supervisor that a patient I had worked with had been quarantined- back before anyone wore masks and tests were nearly impossible to get. (And I do ultrasound so I was in this person's face scanning them for 30ish minutes.) The consensus was "you can keep working" (unmasked because we didn't back in March) "unless you have symptoms". I actually was scanning several people that were elderly in the following days after my "exposure". I know things have changed a lot since then but I personally wouldn't be that concerned about it unless someone in the family is incredibly high risk (and not like "overweight high risk" but like "going through chemo high risk".) Even when I had a kid quarantined, we sent the other kids in our family to school (and school told us too.) We didn't do anything to isolate quarantined kid(s) from the rest of us.

[smilequeen]

A contact of a contact does not need to quarantine. I’ve had 2 kids go through quarantine. Only the directly exposed kid was expected to quarantine per the guidelines. My infectious disease MD friend suggests the quarantined kid wear a mask at home and minimize contact. Easier with a teenager. If the relative tests positive, then quarantine would be necessary.

[PZMommy]

The older relative needs to wait to be tested. If the exposure was just 4 days ago, it is too early to test. You need to wait 5-7 days (7 is better). I had a coworker who tested negative at day 5, but continued to quarantine. She started getting symptoms on day 10 and then a positive test. Had she gone about her life at day 5 she would have unknowingly exposed others.