We think DH has coronavirus....

[ChippityDoDa]

Hi, so this morning DH rang me from his work to say he’s developed a sudden cough and felt hot. He came straight home and we put him in the study which has its own bathroom and sofa bed. He’s been in there all day. I am literally putting food at the door for him and he’s self sufficient in the room. I’m sure he’ll be ok even if it is CV19 as he’s under 40 and pretty healthy however my question is this.... do I now need to isolate for 7 days? We have two young children, one of whom is at school and one at preschool. We are all well apart from DH. Would be a bloody nuisance to be honest but will I be unwittingly infecting folk if I go about my usual business? Our own elderly relatives have been isolated all week anyway so I wouldn’t see them now. Dilemma!

Yes you must. Your DH will have been contagious before symptoms started showing.

There is a link to the official advice at the top of the thread.

I don't know the answer to this, but have you looked at official advice on NHS 111 website?
My guess is you don't have to self-isolate unless / until you have symptoms, but please check.

I don’t know. They said just the sick person should isolate for now, didn’t they?

Later on it will be whole families.

I hope your DH gets well soon and you all are ok.

They said people are most contagious for 7 days, starting from first symptoms. That is how long they must isolate for.

Wow, our first mumsnet case!

You don’t have symptoms. You don’t need to isolate. That’s what the official advice says.

If you are able I would personally self isolate for the next week despite Boris not saying you have to.

Only your DH needs to isolate. There is some very clear and helpful advice on how to achieve that in a multi occupancy household on the nhs website www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Sorry you are coping with this, it must be scary. But sounds like you have done everything right and it's lucky you have r a self sufficient room, I think we would struggle.

The advice isn't at all clear really. Its keeps changing

It looks like the official advice is out of date.
At this point, I'd keep the whole family in the house.
His work should isolate too.

Yes we are very lucky with the room we have available. Most families only have one bathroom don’t they and that would be a nightmare. It’s going to be tricky for me to isolate. Normally we have grandparent help with DH’s dad has diabetes so he’s isolated already and my mum is immunosuppressive due to rheumatoid arthritis drugs so she can’t see us either now. Eldest child school is still open so he’ll have to go there on Monday unless I pull him out which I’m not keen on TBH. I’m really surprised DH has it as our city has been really slow to get cases. First one was only announced on Tuesday and we haven’t been to Italy or China in years! DH temp is up and down but manageable with cold drugs.

we haven’t been to Italy or China in years
That ship has truly sailed by now. Assume there's community transmission, as the number of community cases is much larger because only those in hospital are being tested.

There are a lot more people infected than showing symptoms.

Yeah I would isolate; why impose the risk on others? Screw the government advice: it’s designed on a population basis rather than being designed to minimise risk to individuals...

I can hear him coughing now. It’s one of those heavy, chesty coughs. He says he’s out of breath quickly, he’s not super fit but certainly not unfit (he can run a 10k no bother) so that just goes to show it’s quite nasty.

The advice isn't at all clear really. Its keeps changing

It's much clearer now than a couple of days ago. If you have a fever (above 37.8) or a new persistent cough, self isolate for 7 days. If you don't, then go about your day as normal.

You can argue about whether this advice is right, or sufficient. But if nothing else, it is clear.

Are you going to try and get him tested? Just asking out of curiosity to be honest as would like to know how the process works....

PS I hope he feels better soon 😊

I'd isolate the whole family if possible. (I understand it's not do-able for all families).

Corona virus has a dry cough not a chesty cough so your dh may just have a cold.

I believe the current advise is that the whole family doesn't need to isolate but I'm sure that will change soon. My DDad has 'recovered' well (still left with a cough) if that offers reassurance.

Apparently they aren’t testing now unless you are actually in hospital 😕. There must be so much infection just being passed around in communities I guess. Luckily I am prepped up enough - I randomly ordered some face masks the other day which appeared in the post today - and have a decent amount of food in. Only 12 loo rolls though - lol - but a couple of big boxes of tissues. Interestingly there is no snot and sneezing - apparently that’s not a CV thing.

As far as I can tell the official advice is that he should isolate from you and you should go about your business as usual.. as pps have said though he's very likely already passed it to you/your children so personally I think the best thing to do is to stay off work/school for at least 7 days to see if you develop symptoms. Keeping him separate as best you can of course so that if by good luck you haven't caught it it'll stay that way.. Good luck, hope the doesn't get it too bad!

The government advice is you only have to isolate if you have symptoms yourself. I am isolated but my children have no symptoms so are carrying on as normal, I am following government guidelines for keeping myself away from them as far as possible.