Self isolation and children - is it just me or is there a lack of clear guidance?

[cheeseismydownfall]

Given this evening's latest update on self isolation, is anyone clear on what is recommended in the case of a young, dependent child showing symptoms of cough or fever? The advice seems clear enough for those living alone (no visitors, doorstep deliveries) or with other independent adults (avoid sharing common spaces as much as possible), but what are you supposed to do if your three year old comes home from nursery with a fever? Clearly it won't be possible to achieve any meaningful isolation from a toddler! So what does that mean for the adult carer? Should they self-isolate too? And if not, surely that defeats the object, since the chances to transmission from a child to their parent must be high? I guess the same goes for those caring for dependant adults too. I think there has been a real lack of clarity about what is expected of people one step removed from those in isolation.

I don't think you can tag team

I'm also unclear about this, in terms of the reality of the arrangement. I've read all the guidance.

Our set-up is me, DH, 8 yo DS with ASD who is high functioning but needs careful management, 5 yo DD, 16 month old DS who is breastfeeding and co-sleeping. DH and I can both work from home in general but there are times we are required to be elsewhere (for example I'm a solicitor and have court hearings to conduct).

So if 5 yo starts with a fever, and I care for her but also am feeding DC3 and need to support DC1, do we all self isolate for 7 days or can DC1 and DC3 still go to school/nursery if they are regularly within 2 metres of DC2? Can DH care for DC on the days I have to be in court? If we all self isolate together we will then have to all self isolate again with the next set of symptoms, that could be 5 weeks in total of no school or work. I can manage that (I think) if necessary but is that the intention of the guidelines?

wejammin That’s my interpretation. I suppose the alternative would be that one parent self isolates from any unwell child and goes out - a sort of reverse self isolation as it were. As another family with 3 children I don’t feel that’s practical for us but if we only had 1 child then, if that child became symptomatic, I would care for them and we would both isolate from DH so that he could still go out to work.

In terms of you needing to be in court for work - that does add a further level of complexity and I’m not sure what the answer is.

There is nothing in the advice that says the whole family has to isolate if they are not displaying the symptoms. I think a tag approach is fine, as long as no one has the symptoms.