My Sil has tested positive fir COVID

[ohsuzannah]

Sil has been paranoid since the first lockdown. All her family have to shower and change their clothes if they go out. Shopping has to decontaminate for 72 hours, wears rubber gloves and a mask practically all the time.
She has now tested positive for COVID . I'm totally mystified!
In our house I do all the shopping etc , as I'm the carer for my dd. I'm also over 65 and disabled, and I haven't caught it. WTF?!

We are super careful. Not that careful but similar and my husband got it. I think it was the children personally for us. It's bonkers isn't it? I wonder if those who are more exposed have better resistance? Not based on anything other than the fact we are so careful and still got it, but I have a four children so lots of potential exposure from them.

Her only daughter is 21, and does go out to work, but as I said, they all have to shower when the get home. Sil never goes out and even at her own mother's funeral, kept well away from everyone else

Showering won't do anything.

Showering won't stop airborne transmission. Has her daughter been tested?

Reckon her daughter may have picked it up at work too. Can she get tested? She's presumably isolating anyway?

It’s airborne, her dd could have been asymptomatic and passed it on.

Younger people can have it and be completely asymptomatic and/or not have any of the 3 main symptoms that would trigger a test. If her 21 year old daughter is going out to work, she has probably brought it home. When we had it in March, the children (teenagers) just had sore throats and felt very tired, my husband and I had the more classical symptoms. It’s why they are making health care workers like myself do lateral flow tests twice a week. It’s possible we could have it again and not be aware of it. It’s very contagious so if you live under the same roof as someone who is +ve, it is unlikely that you won’t get it (unless you confine them to one room with own bathroom which they don’t leave for 10 days.)

Well it’s obviously her daughter. She will have caught it and been asymptomatic. Showering won’t get rid of it. I understand people want to be careful but we need to understand how this virus transmits, otherwise you’re wasting your time a bit!

I work in a school and lots of us got antibody tested to see if we had ever had it. The only person who tested positive was the person who has been so careful bordering on paranoid since March. We all worked at school all through lockdown and she refused because it was too dangerous.

I find it odd that she was so careful in all areas but then didn’t realise how high risk her daughter was going out to work every day outside the home. Her incubating shopping for 72 hours was completely unnecessary. Plus the rubber gloves.
It’s not mystery at all how she’s caught it.

There is a slim chance it could be a false positive

I wonder if her and her husband’s natural immune system isn’t working so great now, if they have been taking all these measures for so long.

How is showering meant to help? If her DD has breathed the virus in whilst at work and then been asymptotic but breathing it around her house a shower won't help.

People give the germ to each other by breathing & talking near each other.
Shower won't do anything to stop breathing.
Neither would wiping & quarantining shopping...

I hope your SIL has a mild course and nobody else in her household suffers, either.

I'm guessing that showering/changing clothes will help in the same way that washing hands will. If droplets have landed on your skin or clothes, it will get rid of them.

Our hands are filthy though. We touch things all the time. I'm fairly confident most virus that use fomites aren't jumping elbow to shoulder but rather hand to face.

@Portosantamaria

Younger people can have it and be completely asymptomatic and/or not have any of the 3 main symptoms that would trigger a test. If her 21 year old daughter is going out to work, she has probably brought it home. When we had it in March, the children (teenagers) just had sore throats and felt very tired, my husband and I had the more classical symptoms. It’s why they are making health care workers like myself do lateral flow tests twice a week. It’s possible we could have it again and not be aware of it. It’s very contagious so if you live under the same roof as someone who is +ve, it is unlikely that you won’t get it (unless you confine them to one room with own bathroom which they don’t leave for 10 days.)

It's meant to be highly contagious, but DD's housemate had it. She thinks she got it at a restaurant, where they were all together on the same table. They all isolated together and ate, watched TV etc etc together. None of the other 6 got it, including the girl's boyfriend.

They weren't asymptomatic because they all had tests ( they've all had lots of tests because students are encouraged to test even without symptoms.) Yet someone that shields and washes their shopping gets it. It's weird.

Honestly, it's hard to understand how the answer is not obvious. Her 21 year old daughter has it because she's been working throughout, and is completely and totally asymptomatic. Which is the case often and is at least part of the reason that this spreads so much because I suspect that at any given moment the percentage of the population who have it is far higher than we realise.

Frankly, I'm more amazed that if her daughter had been going out throughout, that she didn't get it sooner.

Some posters are confusing transmitting the virus if you have it and transmitting it or getting it through carrying germs on your body.

Of course changing clothes and showering will help if you haven't got it yet (though a bit OTT), that's why we're asked to do the 20 second hand wash.

So will leaving shopping for three days (although again OTT IMO).

Some tests are very inaccurate. Known someone test positive and she has been bloody shielding!!

A friend was really poorly and ended up in hospital with classic Covid symptoms. Was tested 3 times...negative. 4th occasions positive test

If you are going out you can catch it. Gloves do nothing.

Hopefully she will have it mild and realise it's a big fuss about nothing all this showering..etc - pointless!

@XmasShopper

Some posters are confusing transmitting the virus if you have it and transmitting it or getting it through carrying germs on your body.

Of course changing clothes and showering will help if you haven't got it yet (though a bit OTT), that's why we're asked to do the 20 second hand wash.

So will leaving shopping for three days (although again OTT IMO).

We're really not. Washing hands is important. Changing clothes isn't. Sorry. Viruses don't live well on fabrics. But they LOVE warm, moist hands. And hard surfaces too.

@Portosantamaria

Younger people can have it and be completely asymptomatic and/or not have any of the 3 main symptoms that would trigger a test. If her 21 year old daughter is going out to work, she has probably brought it home. When we had it in March, the children (teenagers) just had sore throats and felt very tired, my husband and I had the more classical symptoms. It’s why they are making health care workers like myself do lateral flow tests twice a week. It’s possible we could have it again and not be aware of it. It’s very contagious so if you live under the same roof as someone who is +ve, it is unlikely that you won’t get it (unless you confine them to one room with own bathroom which they don’t leave for 10 days.)

I saw a video this week of Kate Garraway interviewing experts and an amazing fact in that was that if your husband/wife caught Covid, living in same house, eating together, sharing a bed, etc, your risk of catching it was around 35%. We know several families where some members had it and others didn't which seems odd if it is as infectious as we all expect it to be

Handwashing does a lot to stop gastro-intestinal germs but not respiratory viruses.

Just repeating, why would you think all of that washing would keep it away? It can help but it will do nothing for protecting against airborne droplets. You have no idea how much non socially distanced contact the daughter and other family members are having outside. Hope she has an easy course and is well again soon.