Positive covid

[paigemummydavis]

*Heey All :)

So my 4 year old son tested positive for covid nearly 10 days ago he is safe and well and are isolation period is due to come to a end on Thursday ...until the kiddies dad now has caught the coronavirus so we all now have to self isolate again I'm so confused as to how I haven't caught it yet but I was wondering

Can you catch covid from sleeping next to someone who's positive as I have slept next to the kids dad and also my son as he falls asleep in my bed???

Luckily me and my daughter (6) haven't caught it but I'm sure we will eventually seeing as it is meant to be so contagious.

Many thanks*

It's difficult to say, I had Covid in Feb, my husband shared a bed with me and in his words I was basically breathing in his face, my DD clung to me for the whole week and neither of them got it. The person I got it off (plumber) isolated in his bedroom for the ten days and stayed away from the family, and they all caught it.

Like any other virus, sometimes you will catch it and sometimes you won’t. Think of how many times in the past you’ve been in close proximity to somebody with a cold and not caught it yourself. You may, you may not.

My friend had covid not long ago and her husband and daughter didn’t catch it. It’s really strange how this happens!

It depends on shedding.

Basically an individual infected with covid can shed (emit) the virus to enormously varying extents, and with covid it appears unconnected to how sick they are or how high their viral load (how many virus particles in their system) - NB the latter two aren't that related either which is weird. It's also dependent on where someone is in the infection cycle as initially the virus starts off in the upper respiratory tract where it can be shed into droplets that we breathe out, but later moves to the lower respiratory tract.

So it's possible for one person to be infected - even quite sick, but shed very little virus so they don't infect others. While another has no symptoms, but sheds it like a wet dog having a shake - this leads to super-spreading events.

When we measure R, it's an average across all infected people - 3/4 of those infected could pass it on to nobody while the other 1/4 infect everyone around them.

I have just been in a similar position where my DH and I caught covid and then my DS caught it near the end of the ten days. I asked on here about it, and asked test and trace twice. I was told nobody had to continue isolating beyond the initial ten days except my DS. Dh and I already positive and ended our ten days as planned (although my DH was very unwell so hasn't been out) as did our other 2 children who had no symptoms.