Isolating teenagers

[EarlGreyJenny]

DS 16 has just been tracked and traced. A boy in one of his classes has tested positive. They are not friends and have not spent any close time together. He now has to isolate for 2 weeks. Any advice on how strict we need to be within our house? I'm struggling with the prospect of leaving trays of food outside his bedroom door.

My DS who is 17 is just finishing his second period of isolation. He has spent most of the days in his room although we have allowed him to come downstairs and pick up food. He has also sat in our living room, well over 2 m away from the rest of the family, for an hour or so some evenings to watch television. He wipes down surfaces in the bathroom after every use.

Obviously, this isn’t absolute social distancing but it’s a level of risk but we are happy with

If he is sure he wasn't actually close to the boy then I wouldn't be too overly strict. Have they just sent a whole bubble home rather than close contacts?

Unless he's had proper close contact I wouldn't worry about any of it, despite being classed as vulnerable. If he had been in close prolonged contact items it'd different of course.

As it happens I've just had Covid. Dh and 18y Dd didn't hide away from me. They'd been with me before they knew I had it, so figured it'd make very little difference. I spent a lot of time in bed as wasn't feeling good, but Dh collected my when I was discharged from hospital following my result and continued to sleep in the same bed. Dd sat in the same room as me. Neither Dh or Dd got any symptoms despite this.

I don't know how they've worked out who to send home, presumably those who sit in close proximity and those who are in close contact with him. I think around 60 kids missing another 2 weeks but needs must. Sounds like you are all on similar page to me with regards to how strict to be in the house.

@Aragog hope you're feeling better now, sounds like you have had a rough time

If my kids have to isolate they’ll stay in the house but we won’t be social distancing. We will carry on as normal in the house.

No way would I expect my dc to stay locked up in their rooms for 2 weeks like a prisoner is it not enough they are confined to the house ?
When has it ever been acceptable to keep children in their rooms and withdraw all physical and emotional contact with them? I despair i really do. Just because a teenager might look like an adult they are still a child they need parental and family contact

My 13 year old was sent home with her whole year group for 1 kid that had a positive test.
Carried on as normal in the house. I took her for 2 walks (live fairly rurally) as I felt staying in for 14 days wasn't healthy!

My 11 years old is now isolating as a member of staff at school tested positive. We are living life within the house as normal. We live in a tiny house, we couldn’t social distance if we tried.

If they’re isolating as a contact, I wouldn’t be too strict with them inside the house (obviously they can’t go out). It’s miserable to be stuck in over half term and it’s pretty likely not to come to a anything.

My teen has just followed his second period of SI. He's in his room most of the time, but we did not have any special rules and he's at an age where the thought of getting close to others would make him head back upstairs.

@OvertiredandConfused

My DS who is 17 is just finishing his second period of isolation. He has spent most of the days in his room although we have allowed him to come downstairs and pick up food. He has also sat in our living room, well over 2 m away from the rest of the family, for an hour or so some evenings to watch television. He wipes down surfaces in the bathroom after every use.

Obviously, this isn’t absolute social distancing but it’s a level of risk but we are happy with

This makes me sad for your son

I agree with others that this is hard enough without ostracising children in their home. Both times the SI led to nothing (could be asymptomatic I suppose, but he was nowhere near the other student both times).

We agreed at the beginning of this that if one of us (just me and one teenager) had to self isolate we'd do it together (I'm wfh anyway) nothing else makes sense, if one of us has it we both will. As it happens we both have it and we're isolating together now.

DD15 currently SI after whole year was identified as close contacts of one positive case - who was someone who wasn’t even in any of DD’s classes. So she’s staying at home but we’re not otherwise doing anything differently. If it had been a true close contact such as one of her friends then we would probably have been more careful - though probably by SI ourselves other than daily walk as we are working on theory that if one of us gets it then the rest probably will too.

If your child is in contact with a positive case (bubble) is it always 14 days Self isolation?

Just asking because a friends child was told to go back 7 days after a positive contact. Is this correct?

@Shopaholic100

If your child is in contact with a positive case (bubble) is it always 14 days Self isolation?

It's 14 days from last contact. My son has to isolate til next Friday as his last contact with the positive case was last Friday. We found out on Tuesday so have 10 days of actually staying in.

I wouldn't be so strict. I'd only ask that Ds1 stayed in the house. We have had very low rates here in Surrey and no one I know had had a case in their school. No one has had to isolate. But if and when we need to, I certainly won't make him stay in his room.

If they were late getting a test result and there was a delay identifying contacts then the actual isolation period can be less than 14 days as its from contact not test result/when you're contacted

@Shopaholic100

If your child is in contact with a positive case (bubble) is it always 14 days Self isolation?

My understanding is that it's 14 days from last contact with positive case.

I'm not going to isolate to his room, he's been so brilliant over this whole horrible time with missing out on so much and I think that's a push too far for anyone's mental health. We are a very exposed family anyway with our jobs. Will be leaving extra cleaning stuff in the bathroom though and hoping that this new cleaning regime will stick

Good for you OP, our children's mental health will suffer enough, and yes it is 14 days since exposure.

3littlewords To be honest, I hate it more than he does. As someone else said, he is at an age when he is spending almost all of his time in his room anyway. The only thing he objects to is wiping around the bathroom – and that’s nothing to do with Covid!

If he wanted to come out and do more then we would definitely do things a bit differently. I should probably also have said that I’m clinically extremely vulnerable and was shielding until the end of July.

My biggest worry isn’t that I get Covid but rather how my teenagers would handle it if I did. The only way I could get it would be through them and I am likely to be reasonably unwell and I don’t want them carrying that guilt