am i classed as a close contact?

[contactornotthatisthequestion]

hear me out before you shout please!
nipped into old work place today as its panini weds and had to pass an hour waiting for something. old colleague is suffering with what she tought was hayfever as she does get it bad. shes been doing lfts daily and have all beeen fine but shes done one this evening and its positive. now the reason im unsure if i am not not is after looking on the gov site, i havent been f2f with her at all, 1m or less.
the only time i was near her was 10 secs to place a cuppa on her desk and then walked over to a seat at the other side of the room and there i stopped. it was a good 8ft min at all times from her and i was there approx 2 hrs.
im questioning this as im due to go away on mon and also have some events this weekend and one of the people im going with is cev, as am i but we are both doubled jabbed too

opinions please but no need to be nasty, if the concensous is i am a close contact i will isolate, im not going out the house again til fri in the meantime anyway

I was going to say the complete opposite to @GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing if you were at my DC school all 3 classes in a bubble would be at home for 10 days (most with less contact than that!)

Have a DC isolating home in their summer holidays who had less contact than that and the positive lft was more than 2 days later

If your colleague gives your details to Test and Trace you will be

I would not class that as a close contact.

Tricky. I would be tempted to say yes you were. You used the kettle and the kitchen to make her cuppa. There's a reasonable chance you could have handled the same kettle, crockery, taps, doors, etc etc in kitchen and potentially loos. You seem to have gathered quite a lot of info from old colleague re hayfever, LFTs etc - are you sure you exchanged all that info and any further chat remotely and not in a face to face way at all? Did you queue for your paninis (panini?) together?

You don't have to answer these questions, it's just maybe some things to consider.

@TwoLeftElbows

Tricky. I would be tempted to say yes you were. You used the kettle and the kitchen to make her cuppa. There's a reasonable chance you could have handled the same kettle, crockery, taps, doors, etc etc in kitchen and potentially loos. You seem to have gathered quite a lot of info from old colleague re hayfever, LFTs etc - are you sure you exchanged all that info and any further chat remotely and not in a face to face way at all? Did you queue for your paninis (panini?) together?

You don't have to answer these questions, it's just maybe some things to consider.

not a problem to answer at all. i did the panini run by myself, the cuppa was also a take out drink from the same van so i literally dumped them on her work space. i did use the loo but we have always had a routine of wiping down what we touch and hands are washed before and after due to residue of products on our hands and i still do this i know a lot as shes not just an ex workmate but one of my closest friends, i had to quit due to my health issues and not being allowed to do it any more but we still talk 3/4 times a week i can rearrange my holiday no problem as its my holiday home we are going to, can also miss this weekends things the room is id say 20ft one way, slightly more the other so i was more than likely more than 8ft away thinking about it

when shes rang tonight to arrange pcr test she spoke to the lady and they discussed all who had been in today and from what the lady said she doesnt think i am, same for 2 others but the 3 others in are

we would also be travelling in my car and the cev person is in my bubble as shes alone and im also her carer

@RumblyMumbly my son’s school was similar - sent the whole two class year group home to isolate because of one positive case in the other class to my son.

Ds is in primary and dd secondary if that helps- I wondered if the difference was that with primary kids they can’t tell who kids are playing with at playtime.

I wouldn't with the CEV person, it's just not worth the risk.

Ad it is your own holiday home and you are not considered a contact I would still go there if LFT are negative but I wouldn't see your CEV friend as you know there is a risk. Covid won't care that you are 2m or 2.5m and if you are in her bubble. If you have it and in a car you could definitely pass it on.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing I have one in primary, 1 in secondary too and both fell foul of the abritrary bubble system - understand the need to isolate but feel like the bubble syste was too broad a measure

The stupid thing is one DC had been in really close contact (spending whole day sitting inside) with a friend who's mum tested positive that night - but didn't have to isolate for that even though I could see a real risk of getting Covid (thankfully didn't)

I really want a panini after reading this thread

@contactornotthatisthequestion delta does seem to spread easily indoors, I would rearrange with the CEV person, sorry, it's a pain & lots of summer plans are getting scotched despite 'freedom day'!

I would think there is a fair enough potential for you to catch it but I don't know the exact rules about close contacts etc, I tend to err on the side of caution so I would say you need to isolate. I definitely don't think you should be around a CEV person either, no way. But you sound like a very decent person just wanting to make sure you're doing the right thing, I've seen a lot of selfishness on covid posts the past few days so its refreshing to see someone genuinely wanting to do the right thing.

after thinking about it all night i think im going to hunker down for a few days until pcr results are through anyway and im going to rearrange the break.
im in a very lucky position to be able to change it to any time in the 6 weeks and not a drip but the cev person is my mum whos also in her 70s so im going to arrange other family to help in the mean time and sort online shops for her
i was a bit gutted for the kids but theyve just said can we have more screen time since you cant take us out! another is pleased they dont have to get dressed
todays plans are now to amazon prime a shit load of crap like munchies and games and crafts, sort asda (lucky im still on priority shops and we have enough in for a few days anyway) and then sit in front of the fan with no bra on binge watching crap tv

Oh OP, you sound like a lovely family. When you do get to have the holiday, hopefully you can enjoy it all the more, not worrying about passing anything on. Best wishes to your ill friend.

Sensible decision OP, you can go when you've isolated and won't have the worry hanging over you. Hope you get a negative and enjoy your hols

Thing is you may not be a close contact of her, but other colleagues may have caught it from her and if you were close to them you may now be at risk. I think you’ve made the right decision.