Who should isolate within household?

[weepingwillow22]

Over the last couple of days I have developed a few symptoms which may or may not be coroavirus related. These are sore throat, headache, fatigue and this morning a slight loss of taste. I will be tested as part of the zoe research and will have the results in a few days. However in the meantime I am wondering the best way of keeping the rest of the household safe. In our house lives
Me
My husband - mid 40s, slighly overweight, no other health issues
Son with severe autism. He has been going to school and is most likely where I got it from but no symptoms
6 month old - wholly breastfed and dependent on me

What option would be best
A) my husband to isolate in his bedroom until I get my results? The issue with this is that I feel pretty rotton and am struggling to care for baby and son with severe autism.

B) Me to isolate and husband to bring me baby to feed when required. The problem with this option is it my older son is the carrier my husband will be exposed anyway.

C) None of us to isolate from each other and accept we might all get it.

What do people think? We will all be isolating from the wider community which ever option.

[ragged]

I would assume I've already exposed them so if they are going to get it, they already have it. No need to isolate within own home.

[weepingwillow22]

What about viral load though? Should we at least try to minimise that?

[ragged]

Lots of MNers talk about viral load & I don't know if they are all talking about the same thing. Do you mean the maybe you only gave them a tiny dose already, and so they would end up with a milder illness?

I reckon underlying health state, sex, age are going to matter a lot more than how much you already breathed on them. My understanding is that people shedding covid19 shed the most in the first 24 hours they have symptoms. The amount they shed goes down sharply after that. So you already gave them the biggest dose you could. You are less dangerous now. Plus almost certainly you don't have covid, because 90% of people tested don't have it.

[LilyPond2]

www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/emergencies/COVID-19-pregnancy-ipc-breastfeeding-infographics/en/

WHO advice is that mothers with Covid-19 wear a mask while breastfeeding.

[ragged]

Is that confirmed or suspected cases, LilyPond?

[LilyPond2]

It just says "Women with Covid-19". I think the sensible approach if you have symptoms associated with Covid-19, but have not been tested, is to assume you have it. After all, if OP wears a mask and it turns out she didn't have Covid-19, there's no harm done.

[LilyPond2]

I think given your family circumstances, you need to accept that there are limits to how much you can reasonably isolate from each other. Given that people are infectious before they show symptoms, anyone in the family who is going to catch it probably already has done. That being said, given that there has been speculation that viral load affects how severe a case you get, I think it is still sensible to take steps to limit viral load subject to what is reasonably achievable for your family, eg:

• keeping windows open to keep house aired (subject obviously to safety considerations if your son is too young to understand the dangers of heights!);
• if you have your own garden, encouraging son to play outside (unless there is a risk of him infecting neighbours);
• your husband not sharing a bed with you if domestic arrangements allow;
• washing your baby's toys in soapy water (or washing machine for soft toys);
• frequently cleaning frequently touched surfaces such as door handles and screens;
• washing clothes frequently;
• frequent handwashing (including reminding your son to wash his).

I think the idea of your husband hiding away while you try to do everything despite feeling exhausted is a really bad idea. Trying to plough on when your body is telling you to rest might risk a worse case of Covid-19 if that is what you have.