Isolation confusion

[Tunnocks34]

Hi all,

Hoping someone has some advice, I have tested positive for covid. My isolation period ends on Wednesday BUT my husband has tested positive this morning. Do I have to isolate with him for an addition 10 days or can I leave for shopping?

I assume I do as covid can live on surface etc but I wanted to be sure.

I'm fairly certain your isolation period will end on Wednesday. Otherwise if you had a family of e.g 6 you could end up isolating for up to 60 days if each family member tested positive one by one every 10 days (unlikely obviously but possible). Track and trace will tell you for certain.

No, your isolation starts again.
Please check the official advice and stick to it, its absolutely all explained on the nhs and government Covid device websites- (rather than us guessing your individual circumstances)

According to the beeb @sleepybuthappy is correct.

Covid: Who has to self-isolate and for how long? www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54239922

@notwhyicamehere

No, your isolation starts again. Please check the official advice and stick to it, its absolutely all explained on the nhs and government Covid device websites- (rather than us guessing your individual circumstances)

Her isolation does not start again. Maybe you should also reread the guidance

This shows the isolation periods in a family scenario

Thank you so much. It does seem a little strange to me as I thought it could live on clothes etc.

The government guidelines didn’t give any indication of this scenario. Obviously if the kids get it, then I will have to stay home with them anyway to look after them.

When we had it I was patient 1, dd2 was 2, dd1 was 3 and dh was 4 in the diagram above. I was told by test and trace that once my 10 days were up I was free to leave the house. This was back in the days when contacts had to isolate for 14 days so there was lots of moaning that I was Typhoid Mary but allowed out several days before everyone else in the end

You've had covid and your DH caught it from you. You can't catch it back from him. If you have a fever or any other symptoms except lingering cough then you should stay home. Otherwise anti-bac your hands, wear a mask, shop. (I wouldn't see anyone in close contact until all of you are better, but walks outside will be good for you after 10 days in.) The kids need to stay home if they haven't tested positive though, see the chart above.

@MRex I am a teacher and will be expected to be back at work when my isolation period ends unfortunately. I won’t have the luxury of just leaving for walks.

I definitely caught covid from work though. The Indian variant is rife in my school, over 30 cases before half term, with four year groups isolating at home!

I asked test and trace, you only have to go back in to si if someone tests positive after the 10 days. During the 10 days it's only the person who tested positive that has to start again.

The text under that chart on the bbc contradicts the chart. It says “If they then display symptoms, you must start a new 10-day isolation period.”

I think the text means that if you are isolating due to contact with a case and then get symptoms then that person restarts 10 days isolation from then. It's not talking about the person that tested positive in the first place.

I've copied and pasted from the government website:

You can return to your normal routine and stop self-isolating after 10 full days if your symptoms have gone, or if the only symptoms you have are a cough or anosmia, which can last for several weeks. If you still have a high temperature after 10 days or are otherwise unwell, stay at home and seek medical advice.

If you are isolating because of a positive test result but did not have any symptoms, and you develop COVID-19 symptoms within your isolation period, start a new 10 day isolation period by counting 10 full days from the day following your symptom onset.

If you develop COVID-19 symptoms at any point after ending your first period of isolation you and your household should follow the steps in this guidance again.

From another bit of the site:

If you develop symptoms while you are isolating,arrange to have a COVID-19PCRtest. If your test result is positive, follow the advice for people with COVID-19 to stay at home and start a further full 10 day isolation period. This begins when your symptoms started, regardless of where you are in your original 10 day isolation period. This means that your total isolation period will be longer than 10 days.

If other household members develop symptoms during this period, you do not need to isolate for longer than 10 days

If other household members develop symptoms during this period, you do not need to isolate for longer than 10 days

And that’s the same as if they test positive?

I feel for your DH, looks like he has to be in isolation for nearly 3 weeks. Same thing happened to friends of ours. Daughter caught it just before Easter, whole family of 5 isolated and just before the 10 days were up, the dad caught it, so he and the other members who didn’t catch it, virtually stayed in for 3 weeks.

No you don’t need to isolate as you have done your 10 days . Similar to out situation dd tested positive we all isolated then one by one we all caught it but days later so dd ended isolation but we carried on because we got symptoms. I was last one to catch it so I isolated longer iyswim . See below .

@Mindymomo

I feel for your DH, looks like he has to be in isolation for nearly 3 weeks. Same thing happened to friends of ours. Daughter caught it just before Easter, whole family of 5 isolated and just before the 10 days were up, the dad caught it, so he and the other members who didn’t catch it, virtually stayed in for 3 weeks.

They all didn’t need to isolate again. Only the dad test and trace would’ve told you that .

@Tunnocks34

Thank you so much. It does seem a little strange to me as I thought it could live on clothes etc.

The government guidelines didn’t give any indication of this scenario. Obviously if the kids get it, then I will have to stay home with them anyway to look after them.

There very little actual evidence that viable COVID can live on even hard surfaces. All the wiping and disinfecting is mostly theatre.

@Tunnocks34

I definitely caught covid from work though. The Indian variant is rife in my school, over 30 cases before half term, with four year groups isolating at home!

Some of the isolation rules have changed if you’re in Scotland as have close contacts of close contacts. Probably better to check with your LA.

We had the Indian variant in our school and cases went soaring through the roof. Public Health insisted on longer isolation periods and everyone who was a close contact of a close contact had different rules to follow than the normal ones.

There's been no cases of covid in my dc's school that we've been notified about since before Easter (scotland)

Thanks all spoke to track and trace. The children have to isolate until my husbands isolation period is over - which is 5 days after mine. If one of them test positive after my isolation period is over, I have to isolate again as a house hold contact; but if they test positive within my isolation period then I don’t 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is my specialist subject these days! As per what several posters above habe said, you absolutely do not have to start your 10 days again in the situation you have described above. Similarly, anybody in your household who does not develop symptoms by the end of your 10 days is then free to go about their business as usual.
However, if someone else in the household then tested positive on day 11, 12, etc, you would all be back in for 10 further days, apart from your DH who would be free to go at the end of his original 10 days.
(My credentials: My job since September has been putting student households and teaching groups in and out of isolation. "Covid regulations" and "Covid Six Degrees of Separation" would now be my Mastermind subject. )