To cancel Christmas? We're hosting, DH has Noro

[MyNameIsFartacus]

We have my husband's family due to come over for full whack Christmas dinner tomorrow - hubby came down with d & v, presume norovirus, in the night - DISASTER! I know that realistically I'm going to get it too, should we just cancel now? We have a fridge full of food, booze, the whole lot, I'm so upset ☹️

If I was visiting I'd rather not take the risk. Vomiting bugs in adults are usually Norovirus. It doesn't always last a week some people will be really really ill, others won't.

It might not be Norovirus, but why risk it?

I would cancel too, noro can survive in the house for 18+ days, even if he’s not contagious there could be traces of it in the house for people to catch. Nothing worse than having noro at Christmas, I wouldn’t want to pass it on to anyone. Cancelling now gives them time to go and buy food today or make other arrangements,

Postpone. No reason you can’t have a delayed Christmas gathering. Or do it for New Year. Either way, tell your guests ASAP so they can get some food in.

Can you take the food and host at one of their houses? Just switch venues? And leave poor dh at home. Hope he feels better soon.

I’d cancel because it gives them some notice. Any other day you could cancel tomorrow, but everywhere shuts at 4pm today!

If he does turn out to be fine can you just rearrange for later in the week? Although last time I had norovirus I couldn’t eat proper food for a week after.

you have to cancel
and then you have to clean, clean, clean.

it's a nightmare.

Absolutely you need to cancel. It’s just not worth it, do you really want a house of guests puking everywhere?! I’d say put as much food as you can in the freezer, store your veg in the fridge etc to give everything as long life as possible. Plan to have a more simple lunch tomorrow- whatever is the family favourite, plan a lovely quiet day in your pyjamas in front of the telly. If I was your family member or friend I would appreciate you making the choice for me by cancelling as I would not want to come anywhere near your house. If you ask them to make the decision they might feel obliged to come. Try and drink some fairly hot fluids to kill any viral particles in your stomach, washing hands very thoroughly, wash everything at 60 and then tumble dry. One DH stops being unwell wash everything walls, floors in the bathroom with bleach solution and pour yourself a big glass of something. Actually all you need at Christmas is love and by cancelling you are doing that.

Noro or a D&V bug I think you need to cancel. It's grim and why would you risk infecting people? I would be gutted if I turned up for Christmas and someone had D&V. Sorry. If he has just eaten something dodgy then its fine, I'd think you'd be able to tell the difference?

We once met up for a long weekend with old uni friends and their children, 21 in total. One child had been sick on the a Friday morning, so they didn't arrive until Saturday morning.
Not one of us escaped. One couple went down with it and had to cancel their flight on the Monday to Australia. My Dd1 started it on the way in Sunday, the was the child from the Exocist! We got home, I started it that Sunday evening DH looked after DD1. D's started it at breakfast, DD2 started it at 2pm, dreadful projectile vomiting just like DD1 but not in the car.
I was dealing with 3 sick children throughout the day having been up all night, the DH came in at 6 and started...
It SWEEPS though families and contacts.
Just cancel and freeze what you can.
No one will want to come into an active Noro house . They will thank you for saving them that rather than pursuing chagrin about a cancelled arrangement. Believe me!

The rest of the household can have Christmas dinner, no? I'd just cancel the guests.

Id postpone till later in the week

Cancel and give the food and booze to the family as they'll have a nightmare going shopping today!

Remember too, this closes ward's in hospitals....

I wouldnt cancel but i would postpone until dh is better then host a belated xmas day dinner

I would definitely cancel the guests. It's unbelievably hideous. So very sorry and hope you don't catch it. my dh didn't. You are being very good host putting your guests first.

The people saying don't cancel are the reason these bugs spread so far and fast. Please cancel.

I went to a wedding where just someone had thought they weren't too ill. Over half the guests including dh and I (who were moving house that week), the b&g who missed their honeymoon due to catching it. It was investigated by the local authorities as so many guests were ill, who gave the verdict noro.

Definitely cancel! I'd rather eat beans on toast for Christmas at home than get norovirus at someone else's.

No need to cancel. Take extra hygiene precautions and banish dh to bedroom for the day.

Laughing at drinking hot liquids to kill the 'virus particles' (sorry not helpful)

As a side note, the vast majority of stomach bugs in adults are norovirus. There are lots of different strains which affect different people to different extents. Symptoms can range from relatively mild to utterly hideous- it's not the severity of the bug that determines whether it's noro or not.

If it's not food poisoning then noro is a very fair assumption.

... although norovirus is the culprit in various food poisonings too!

Most food poisoning is actually caused by norovirus! Food handlers passing it on, FSA state it is the leading cause of food poisoning. Sipping hot water and lemon will help a little actually. Helps to keep me calm when I’m worried about getting a big too

A relative turned up Christmas Day once with d&v when Iwas pregnant.....they exclaimed ‘oh it’s nothing contageous’. It was the most awkward Christmas dinner we have ever eaten! There were certainly no hugs as they left! Luckily I didn’t catch it.
😉 I’ve nearly forgiven them!
Any way you can postpone?

As far as I know it is very difficult to distinguish between noro/rota virus and food poisoning by symptoms alone. The characteristic symptom of noro is how contagious it is so I think you have to assume that it's contagious.

That said, DS3 had what I think was noro earlier in the week (he'd been eating the same as everyone else) and so far nobody else has come down with it. We isolated him to one bathroom and his bedroom, enforced strict handwashing, flushing with lid down, cleaning everything he touched etc and so far...fingers crossed...we've all been ok. We did give any visitors the chance to cancel though.

Apparently the incubation is 12-48 hours so I think if you can get to boxing Day with no further spread then you should be in the clear.

Fingers crossed it's just him and he's better quickly!