I've been instructed to self isolate

[SelfIsolation]

Is there anyone else here who has been instructed to self isolate? I'm finding it very difficult to deal with some of the reactions I've had IRL, and mental health wise / emotionally. I'm not at all scared about having Covid-19. I haven't even requested a test as I don't think I have any symptoms worth worrying about. On the other hand I'm wondering if I could cut short my self isolation if I get a test with a negative result.

If you test negative, you won't have to self isolate.

I understand this is a worrying time but self isolation is surely not so terrible. I have a relative who is currently self isolating and thoroughly enjoying being at home and relaxing, as I would.

It is a shame about reactions from other people - personally I would have said nothing to anyone who didn't have to know but right now any one of us could find ourselves in your position so no reason for anybody to be unpleasant about it.

This will pass, selfisolation. While it lasts, please yourself with what you do at home, stay in bed as long as you like, read, watch TV and Netflix and eat well (groceries will still be delivered).

YY to staying off Facebook and informing people. Everyone will have their opinions, so don't give them any information to judge you on!
Who is going to do your shopping for you?
I hope you stay healthy.

What's the point of you self isolating but your kids going to school as normal? Surely if you are going tl carry on having physical contact with your kids and pets then if you do have it your kids may pick it up too and spread it around their school?

I am a little bit baffled at your comments about the children, OP.

As I understand it, children DO get the virus, but are so slightly affected by it that they aren't especially ill, and no one under the age of 9 has died. But I have heard children described as "super spreaders", so the notion that you can hug and kiss them and send them out in the world with no effects don't add up to me - with what I have understood. (I could have been misinformed).

That said, I appreciate that you are quite unlikely to have it anyway, so for you it is a moot point, but for someone that knows they have the virus, they would surely isolate the whole household?

You have been instructed to self isolate. I presume the authorities did some contact tracing and you were in touch with a person diagnosed with Covid-19.

Self isolation is for you and the time needed for symptoms to appear. It's to slow down the spread of the disease.

DH was tested for Covid-19 as he had symptoms and had just returned from Italy. Testing centre said to self isolate until the result came through, which took about 5 days.
Happily his result was negative but showed he had flu, they advised him to self isolate a couple of days longer but that's all.
I was not told to isolate myself at all as i had no symptoms and had not travelled. But I have stayed at home pretty much anyway.

We have a work link to self isolating advice. It recommends you stay in a room away from others. If you share a bathroom, you use it last and clean throughly after use. Etc

Obviously impossible if you are a lone parent.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-self-isolation-for-patients-undergoing-testing/advice-sheet-home-isolation

children are extremely unlikely to contract it

Children are unlikely to get ill with it. They can pass it on.

I'm finding the advice very contradictory. BIL has been told to carry on as normal even though two people in his work, that sit at the same desks as him in a small office, have been confirmed as having it (both caught at the dentist - I'm assuming it's going to be rife in town now). He's been advised not to do anything different unless he starts to show symptoms.

Yet our neighbours who've come back from a camper van trip to Italy and basically kept themselves to themselves for the duration have to self isolate and have been spoken too really harshly about staying home and protecting people.

If it is a zoonosis, which I read it was, it is best to keep pets away from people in isolation rather than take any risks with their health or passing it on.

So, if you have to self isolate and you don't have a spare bedroom, what do you do? Would the entire family have to self isolate?

Hope you get on okay over the next couple of weeks op.

I heard a man on the radio talk about his self isolation. He was overseas and it meant that the member of the household with a risk of Covid 19 wasn't allowed to leave the one room he was in.

If you've been told to do it, bloody well do it.

You may not show symptoms,but you may have it and not know, or you could be carrying it.

It may not matter to you, but people like me with asthma could possibly die, just because you don't want to do it, and help it spread. Stay in.

Thank you for being responsible Op.
I’m sure it must be a pain, but we all need to support each other and stay positive where we can.

@SelfIsolation this is the advice from Public Health England

www.gov.uk/government/publications/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-self-isolation-for-patients-undergoing-testing/advice-sheet-home-isolation

Your children can catch it and while they probably won't get very sick they could pass it on to others at their school who may do.

It might sound harsh OP but don't take it personally - very probably many of us will be in a similar position within days or weeks. My work has asked me and my department to work at home for the rest of the week to test the whole organisation's capability of working at home. I'm sure you like me know a few vulnerable people who would be severely at risk from the virus. Anything we can do to protect them is vital.

OP I am sorry you have had such crap guidance from 111. If I were you I would isolate as a household. I don't think it is possible for most people to effectively self isolate within a household, especially with children.

Also I think I read somewhere that isolation has to continue for a set time beyond a negative test result...not sure though hopefully someone knows! good luck

Several of these posts illustrate what I mean about the sort of reaction I've been getting. People read something and think they know more than me or the help sources I've consulted about my situation and that they can tell me I should be doing things differently.

No, I haven't had any contact with a confirmed case and been traced through contact-tracing. I was told to self isolate because of where I'd been, and I phoned to check because the online advice was ambiguous. So yes I'm being responsible (and thank you to those who recognise that).

I'm not undergoing testing, so the self isolation advice for people undergoing testing doesn't apply to me. The advice I was given by 111 when I explained my exact situation does however apply to me.

They've decided that there's no risk to our children being out and about as long as we have no symptoms.

And "bloody well do it" is just plain rude. I AM doing it.

Remember that this is SELF isolation. There could be people out there less honest and conscientious who just don't want to self isolate and you'd have no idea. So don't berate me when I'm keeping school and all contacts up to date with what's going on - I'm doing everything I should be.

Yes Bouledeneige I agree - I'm among the first "wave" of people to have to do this. Lots more will face it, and the further along we go the clearer the "rules" and less ambiguity about what it actually means to self isolate.

I'm not about to make up more stringent rules for myself than what I've been given by officials because someone on Facebook or whatever thinks I should - but that's not to say that official advice won't change, and of course I'd follow the prevailing official guidance.

Did 111 tell you that children are extremely unlikely to catch it and that it's OK to keep hugging your kids?

Genuine question. The advice they have been giving out seems to be hugely contradictory and muddled.

I don't think it is correct that you don't have to self isolate if testing negative? They get a lot of false negatives early on before symptoms develop if doing a swab test only I read, so they still want the full 14 days?

Not aiming this at you at all, but I find it bizarre that people who are asked to self isolate only have to isolate from certain people!

How are you a risk to the wider public but not your immediate family?

Surely anyone needing to self isolate should do so as a family or totally alone.

If you don't have it (and I hope you don't) then all is fine. But if you do then your kids will catch it and spread to many others.

How does self isolating only you help contain the spread at all?

We are currently self isolating, although we've not been told to yet but we have been i contact with a case that they're refusing to test. I just don't undertstant the guidance that your kids can come and go or partners can.
But that's not on you that's following advice. Unfortunately sharing household if you get it so will your children and then its too late as they've been in school spreading it for 2 weeks.
But that decision is on you, its our crazy government ignoring all the doctors working in public health trying to tell them otherwise, you are doing the right thing.
Agree to not read facebook.

@backtonormalname you can test negative and then develop in still quite badly afterwards, hence the people they repatriated they tested negative before bringing them back and then kept them in for 2 weeks. Now they are telling people its fine to go and work.......

It really makes no sense. If you are still allowed full contact with every household member who are then still going out and about then it's totally pointless to self isolate. Not a criticism of you at all OP, just shoddy advice that isn't really based on evidence or common sense.
Your symptoms may not appear for several days, in that time you could well have infected your entire family who have then been able to spread it outside the house before they get symptoms. I don't get this advice that's being given at all, it just seems to be getting made up as we go along.