Coronavirus quarantine - what about the family?

[iismum]

I feel like this should be really obvious, but can’t find anything in the official info.

I’m supposed to be going to Italy for work on Monday - in the north but nowhere near any of the affected areas. Infection with coronavirus seems fantastically unlikely, but according to current guidelines if I feel a bit unwell after getting back I’d have to self-quarantine. But what about DH and the DCs? Would they also have to be quarantined, or would that only apply if they too began to feel unwell? I’m prepared to risk getting stuck in the house for 2 weeks myself, but no way am I prepared to risk getting stuck in with the kids!

yes you would keep them all isolated

why wouldn't you?

I’m surprised your work still want you to go

Really surprised that you are going. Is it essential?

why wouldn't you?

Because the advice is only to quarantine if you have any symptoms, unless you’ve been in parts of China.

Work are leaving it up me to decide. It’s quite an important meeting, and right up in the mountains a long way from any of the cases.

What about unreported cases in Italy? I personally wouldn't risk it.

I’m surprised you are going. If it’s not massively urgent why would you?

Important is one thing but is it worth the risk?

The meeting itself might not be in an infected area but it might not be long before it becomes an infected area.

I’m really surprised your employers haven’t curtailed all unnecessary travel.

What about unreported cases in Italy? I personally wouldn't risk it

By that logic no one would go anywhere surely, the people who went to Italy and Tenerife went when there were no reported cases, how would anyone know where the next outbreak will be? The person you sit next to at work could theoretically infect you.

I'd still go, normal life can't grind to a halt.

Dd2 has been tested for Coronavirus this week. The rest of us were told to carry on as normal.

i'd be more worried about general airport staff who will be in contact with everyone coming in from all over the world

I’m not that worried about infection as it doesn’t seem to me that much more likely to be there as anywhere - there’s probably more travel between Milan and Venice (near the infected areas) to London than to where I’m going. But I am worried about getting quarantined with two children! Any more thoughts on whether people with no symptoms who haven’t travelled have to be quarantined, or only if they also start to show symptoms?

Thanks @catanplayer, that’s helpful! How’s your DD?

Not great - coughing a lot. Results due in a few days. She was in northern Italy.

Most big companies have banned all work travel to Italy - check with your risk/HR team.

A number of our staff and students have been affected after a ski trip to Italy last week. A number of my colleagues have had to self quarantine as they are unwell. The advise is to try and keep to a separate part of the house from their family, use separate toilets etc. This is pretty difficult!

I have a family member who also works here who is allegedly self quarantining but my husband has just seen him walking his daughter to school 😠

If you suspect it with symptoms and quarantine yourself then the whole family should be quarantined.
Sadly this government is giving bad advice. If you quarantine and then turn out to have it but your kids have been going to school for 2 weeks, then they will highly likely have had it as well and been spreading it to every kid in school with every door handle they’ve touched.
This is why China a bit letting people leave their houses. This is why the stupid U.K. government has coach drivers in normal clothes and not hazmats. They don’t want to panic people but are helping it spread.

The advice seems rather stupid to me, how can a DM isolate herself in her own home without infecting the other members of her family? I do the school runs, I do all the shopping and cooking and bathing and childcare. With DH working FT with long hours there is simply no one else who can do those things if I had to lock myself in a room for two weeks. Personally OP I think I wouldn't go. Yes, the chance of you catching it is slim, but there is no practical way for a parent to isolate themselves.

I don’t think people will self isolate. They will just ‘nip’ out to the shops, to do a school run etc because there are rules and policies but they don’t necessarily apply to them. Then of course there are people who don’t wash their hands very often, who don’t care that their germs are being spread around etc.

By the time dd2 developed symptoms she'd been home for 3 days - already been to school, I'd been to work and ds has gone back to uni. The nurse who tested dd2 and the clinician on 111 said the other 5 family members were fine to carry on. I haven't told anyone in real life as people seem to be hysterical - I already feel like plague carriers and it's more than likely the result will be negative. Actually, I told my workplace as it involves vulnerable people and I'm not going to work until the results come in.

Then of course there are people who don’t wash their hands very often, who don’t care that their germs are being spread around etc.

Definitely. Given the number of (nearly always) men who spit on the footpath in London, there’s a long way to go with getting the public on board with hand washing and coughing into a sleeve/tissue.

Technically, I believe you shut yourself in a room, ideally with an ensuite, and minimise contact with the rest of the house. Not isolate the whole house.

BBC guide, for example

Can you not do a phone / Skype meeting instead?

Do we know that the incubation period is no longer than two weeks? Is two weeks even enough?.
If someone does have suspected CV, Surely a whole family will have to quarantine until a fortnight after the last person recovers. That could run in to months...

Ok, thanks for all the advice. I think I’ll cancel the trip.

Is it a meeting that could be done by conference call OP. We often do calls and email info to each other as necessary during the call. If you've got a laptop open in front of you its quite efficient. Its not totally ideal but it might be better than not having it at all perhaps

Obviously if its something that's site specific because you need to look at a hole in the ground or whatever, that's harder.