If DH comes on a day out with a cold

[supersuds]

DH has a cold. Not Covid, all tested. We are meeting friends with our kids for a day out on Sunday for Father's Day. Day is outdoors but we would be together/ siting together for picnic etc (not best day for it I know).

He says he feels fine to go and prior to the pandemic I would have been fine but now even the risk of a cold is more problematic - so I don't want to risk passing it on.

DH (as always) is hugely snotty, has a cough and croaky voice, so very visible and potential more transferable.

Can of course as our friends but don't want them to feel under pressure to say they don't mind.

Thoughts ?

Should have said I can't go on my own as I can't drive - wrist is in a plaster cast

hugely snotty, has a cough and croaky voice, so very visible and potential more transferable

No.

No. Screw the pandemic, but no one wants to share a picnic with someone coughing, blowing big boggies and hawking phlegm

No, if he’s got a cough, I’d postpone.

Nope don’t.

Can you keep your distance more outside, so not sit close to your friends when having the picnic

Doesn’t sound like he is well enough to be going out socialising.

Definitely not.

You have two options - cancel and say it’s because your DH has a cold; or let your friends know that DH has a cold and has been tested and let them make their mind up.

For me it would depend a lot on who they are. If it’s someone with kids in the same class as mine I would be less bothered than if it were someone from another area entirely.

Phone them up and suggest seeing how he is tomorrow? He may be less gritty by then.

Or even grotty!

No, because yuck, and also because anyone else who gets a cough is going to face all sorts of problems such as isolation, covid tests, problems with childcare, work, on top of being ill.

My kids have a major snot situation going on at the moment and we are avoiding people this weekend.

I currently have a bad cold, feel like total shit, can’t breathe, and have had zero energy for days.

I’m hugely pissed and whoever passed it on to me. Don’t go out socialising if you’re unwell. No one wants your non-covid germs either.

The cough wouldn't bother me at all given that he's been tested, coughs can end up lasting weeks and you can't stay couped up for that long. But it's the fact he is still in the full blown cold stage. I wouldn't be mixing at this time. In normal times, I think it's pretty normal to meet people and go to work etc... with a cold though.

Pre-covid I 100% would have gone out with a cold if I felt well enough, at the minute though I’d just feel really guilty if I passed it onto someone and made it so they had to isolate until they could get tested.

We met up with some family a couple of weeks ago. One of them had a cold and asked beforehand if we wanted to rearrange. We have a child in nursery so constantly have colds anyway, so went ahead. Maybe asking would be the best idea?

If it's a picnic, you can always sit him a little further from the group.

Thanks all that's my instinct, unfortunately we can't rearrange as activity has been booked and no more availability. I don't want to put pressure on them to say yes to be nice so will just cancel.

DH seems to be incredibly susceptible to colds - this is week four of these symptoms (he has two separate colds) he's given it to everyone in the family which has meant days off school and testing, though our symptoms only lasted a couple of days. He feels fine in himself - apart from though cough being bunged up, he felt crappy for a couple of days in the week. I have never known anyone who can have a cold for this long.

Could he have hayfever? Grass pollen is really high at the moment and can make you feel like you have a bad cold. I’ve really suffered the past couple of weeks.

No it's definitely a cold. He is like this every single time he has a cold. He has tried to convince me it's going whilst simultaneously trying to eject a lung

@supersuds

No it's definitely a cold. He is like this every single time he has a cold. He has tried to convince me it's going whilst simultaneously trying to eject a lung

Seeing as you can’t drive at the moment, can he not just drop you off and pick you up later, so you and the DC can still go?

@PoptartPoptart he's offered that but it's a two hour drive so he'd have to hang around in the car... bless him for offering (though part of me thinks he would quite like to put the car seat back and watch movies for a couple of hours)

OMG, I am so happy to read this thread.

Prior to covid, I hated how people would go around willy nilly passing on germs everywhere, really not caring how snotty and coughy they were. And the mumsnet mantra of 'it's just a cold, get over it' - completely missing the point that one person's selfishness would put a whole department off work, or could even kill a vulnerable person (I work with physically vulnerable adults).

At work especially - all these covid precautions have meant our residents have had much better physical health than normal, far fewer hospital admissions, and since a cold could kill some of them as easily as covid, I wish we would continue wearing masks at work forever.

It's wonderful that finally people are cottoning on to the whole 'keep your germs to yourself' thing.

And to the person who has a child in nursery and so they constantly have colds? If a cold can be passed on, then so can covid Their covid precautions are failing.

Has he had a COVID test. Cold symptoms are the new covid, I'm reading:

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/delta-variant-covid-symptoms-include-headaches-sore-throat-and-runny-nose

Urgh the thought of coughy/sneeze hands dipping into a communal picnic [vom]