Do any of you have a plan for what to do with your family if you or your husband test positive for covid? This may have already been discussed some time ago, but I'm thinking about it more now since covid seems to be showing up more, and I'm even hearing about it in my own social circle. Do you have a plan for what you would do? Will the affected spouse stay home and locked into one bedroom for 2+ weeks? God forbid, what if the other spouse gets it at some point? What do you do with your kids? I really don't have a plan beyond one of us staying in a bedroom for weeks.
-
I would expect if one of us tested positive our entire family unit would have already been exposed so I would test everyone and we probably all would be quarantined and take 2 weeks off work. I would not give the kids to my parents unless the kids tested negative
-
My family was recently exposed (but now on day 11 of quarantine, tested negative, no symptoms), so I thought about this a lot. The family we were exposed to, only dad tested positive. Mom and kids never did. Once they knew, dad wore a mask for any up-close interaction with kids, but didn’t isolate (super mild symptoms.) We have three small kids, and I’m still nursing. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d gotten sick. If it was DH, we would probably have had him isolate in the bedroom. Luckily, his office is right off the bedroom, so he could have kept working. I could have delivered meals and it would have been fine. Me isolating just wouldn’t have been an option unless I was so sick DH would need to take time off. And not practical for 2 weeks with my youngest at least. Of course, if I’d been super sick, it would be different. If we both got so sick we couldn’t care for kiddos...yikes. I don’t know. My parents care for the kids often, but I wouldn’t want to expose them. I guess we’d muddle through as much as possible, with my parents as a very very last resort back up?
ETA: we are super lucky that we both already worked from home pre-pandemic (one of my jobs. The other has been closed due to the pandemic). This made the quarantine relatively painless/easy for us and didn’t require any adjustments for work.
-
DH and I were actually just discussing this since he is in and out of grocery stores and restaurants all day long. We would just quarantine the entire family for 2 weeks. Not like we've been going many places anyway. DH would have to apply for disability or paid family leave (we are in CA) depending on who is sick.
We live in 850 sq ft. We don't have an extra bedroom or anything. So while it would be nice to quarantine the sick person away from everyone, it just isn't feasible.
-
@gotkimchi: yep. I agree. We'd both stay home from work and not pass the kids off. Would the sick one of you stay locked in a room?
@Jess1483: I don't think I would do anything until one of us is actually sick. but wearing masks in the house is an idea. ugh, terrible idea, but totally a good option I suppose. I agree that the husbands can isolate, but then us moms? Whoa, the house may come crashing down.
And yep, I wouldn't even know who to pass the kids off to if both my husband and I were sick. I am thinking it would all be mild and whatever, but ugh, those few serious/fatal cases sometimes just have me thinking about dire situations. @KT326: Oh gosh, yes. I didn't even think about having to apply for any disability. I would hope the works would just pay for the 2 weeks. And yes to the difficulty of small spaces. I get it. I am thinking about someone just being confined to a bed for 2 weeks because they are sick.
-
We’ve had a lot of discussions about this. DH is around the public all day, coming in contact with 100+ each day. He wears a mask, as do all of the people he is around, but it’s still a lot of people. And I know one family (not in my state) that both the mom and dad had to be hospitalized so they had to quickly come up with a plan for their kids, So I wanted to be prepared.
If one of us got it, either confirmed by test or just a probable positive, the sick person would isolate to one bedroom and use our upstairs bathroom. To attempt to prevent the spread DD and the other parent would stay home and quarantine for at least two weeks though. If any two of us (either both parents or DD and one parent) were sick or had symptoms that still allowed us to stay home, we would all quarantine at home but none of us would isolate in a specific room. It would suck if DH and I were the two sick ones but we would push through. If one had to be hospitalized, the other parent would quarantine at home with DD for two weeks. If we ever both had to be hospitalized one of my college aged sisters would come stay with DD. Neither have any pre existing conditions and would be much less risky than any of our parents - all of our parents have pre existing conditions in addition to their ages that make them high risk. I had a brief conversation with them to confirm they would be willing to do so. I know it is very unlikely but it made me feel better to have a plan.
-
@agold: hmmm I think we would do our best to try but it just seems very hard!
-
Since DH & I have to go back to teaching in a month in a crowded classrooms (30+) I'm trying to mentally and physically prep for having it. Preparing helps me stay calm.
Logistics: We would all get tests and quarantine for 2 weeks. Any positive adults would isolate in the master bedroom & bathroom, thankful to have that. If we both were sick but mildly, we would take turns with the kids while wearing masks and washing hands all the time, windows open, etc.
If we both got hospitalized, we have a couple of friends that have volunteered to take the kids. They have kids of similar ages, so, it should be doable logistically.
I've also made a Coronavirus "tub" and action plan. Here's what's in it:
Trash bags, water, gatorade powder, emergency C powder, vitamin D drops, Tums, melatonin, tylenol, aspirin, soap, tissues, mouthwash, new toothbrush, cough drops, magnesium supp., hand santizer, pulse oximeter, thermometer.
List of food to buy: soup, popsicles, honey, tea, cheerios, bolthouse farms juice, healthy microwave mealsI got those suggestions from a couple different sources. My general approach in life is to throw the kitchen sink at everything, so.... yeah.
-
For exposure, I think we’d just all quarantine together - I imagine by the time we realized we’d all have been exposed anyway. If one adult got sick I think we’d try our best to quarantine that person in the master with the master bath. I do worry about if both adults got sick - my normal call would be my parents but I they’re in their 70s and I don’t feel like we could expose them. I don’t really have an answer for that one.
-
Same as most of us in that if we both got really sick, I have no idea what we'd do. If one of us is exposed, I would want that adult to quarantine in the basement (finished with a bathroom), until we saw if the other parent was sick too. If one of us got sick before we knew of an exposure, I think we'd assume the other person got it, too, but now I'm not sure how we'd handle that. Lots to think about.
-
We’re already both working from home but realistically if one of us was sick I think the other would have to take vacation days to watch LO and care for the sick parent since obviously our nanny wouldn’t come. The sick parent would stay isolated in the master bedroom which has its own bathroom and the other parent would stay on the pull out couch and wear a mask while delivering food or whatever. If we were both sick or tested positive but still functional we’d have to just care for LO and maybe wear a mask. She’s 2 so there is no staying away from her.
I do worry a lot about what we’d do if we were both super sick and couldn’t care for her. We have no family here and it is a lot to ask of a friend to expose themselves to our LO who could also have it. I have some acquaintances who already had COVID so honestly might ask them to watch her since they’d be immune? It worries me a lot, honestly!
-
My family has been through this, so I can speak from our experience.
My husband started having a strong headache which he attributed to his migraine, but his migraine medicine wasn't helping. Then he started having fatigue and body pains. We both decided to get tested after three days from the onset of his symptoms. He was positive and I was negative. We immediately isolated him in another room and our whole household was under a 2 week quarantine. Our doctor told us to keep watch for any symptoms that our two boys or myself could develop.
Fortunately nobody else got sick and my husband's case was very mild. He did stay isolated in the room for 2 weeks.
-
@catgirl: This is an excellent plan. I will start thinking who will take my kids in the event both husband and I are sick.
@DesertDreams88: This is a great prep list!Thank you so much!
@erinbaderin: My thoughts are exactly the same as yours. The posts above are helpful. And I need to find out who would take my girls if needed.
@Chuckles: I know! So much to think about. Covid is going around my neighborhood now. So, I'm thinking about it now.
@JJ2626: yes, mine are 2 and 3 and we have a part time nanny. it's hard to think about who would watch them. I'm so sorry you don't have family around. Maybe your nanny would watch them and you could pay her hazard pay or something. Its so crazy that there are different possibilities, like demonstrably sick, or positive but asymptomatic.
here is another question - how would you get to the point of knowing you are positive by asymptomatic. What would make you go get tested? And if you are sick, would you just assume the possibility of being positive and go quarantine yourself from the family, or would you actually go out and get tested? I sort of feel at this point I won't go get tested unless I'm at a hospital and need to. I don't really know.
@bubbletrouble: Thank you for sharing your experience! I'm so happy his symptoms were mild. Did he really stay in the room for 2 weeks? That's what we would do. Did you think about getting your kids tested?
-
@agold: There are a lot of asymptomatic people locally getting tested now - basically if they've been exposed to someone, they're able to go get tested as part of contract tracing to stop the spread.
If DH were to get it I automatically have to stay home for 2 weeks as well, so I might as well test to know for sure. We could potentially quarantine to our finished basement if needed, but I am also team 'already been exposed' by then so who knows what we'll do if it happens.
-
Back in late March (or early April, it all runs together now), we thought my husband had it. I made him stay in our guest room.
It was when testing wasn’t easily done, but he was able to have a teledoc visit. It wound up not being covid, or at least he easily recovered without specific systems, so we think it was just a general sickness.
-
I have thought about this - I think we'd have the one infected person try to stay in their room as much as possible and limit exposure to the rest of the family... The rest of the family would also be quarantined, not leave the house and we'd monitor to see if any symptoms arose.
-
@agold: We have been pretty strict about going out since this all started and we're working at home indefinitely but we're getting a bit more exposure now (husband is at the dentist right now for dental work that can't wait any longer, we went to the beach on Monday that was pretty socially distanced but still, there are people around), so I would absolutely get us tested if anyone had any kind of symptoms for a few days that weren't typical allergies (ie, I had a sore throat a couple weeks ago and had some moments of "what if" and had any other symptoms arisen or had anyone else felt under the weather I would have gone to get a test just in case). And if anyone tested positive I'd get everyone tested too.
In terms of our plan (it's two of us plus our 7 year old), our master bedroom would become the isolation room (it's in the farthest corner and has a bathroom en suite so there wouldn't be any need to leave). My brother in law is about an hour away so we would ask them to bring us groceries or anything else and leave it on the doorstep if we needed things. For deep emergencies (hospitalization, etc.) we would have my mother come down (we're 5 hours away from them). She already had COVID so our hope is that she's less likely to get sick again. We have friends who offered to take our daughter and we've offered the same to them but I'd hate to get anyone sick so I'm not sure if that's realistic. I also made a list of what to take to the hospital just in case (ie, phone chargers because it'd be the only means of communication). We also have all our wills, power of attorneys and all our accounts stored on a shared drive so that everything is easily accessible in case things get bad. I'm sure there are things I haven't thought through but I like being prepared.
-
@agold: we’d have sick person isolate in the basement, which has a bathroom. Not sure what to do if both of us are sick. As for when to get tested, find out what your local health authority wants. In my city, you are to be tested if you have and cold or flu symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, achiness - anything). But we have lots of capacity to test and very few cases. If there isn’t enough tests in your area, then there are probably rules for who they will test.
And yep, I wouldn't even know who to pass the kids off to if both my husband and I were sick. I am thinking it would all be mild and whatever, but ugh, those few serious/fatal cases sometimes just have me thinking about dire situations. Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
17 comments