DS Lateral flow positive, waiting on PCR - how on earth do we all isolate in a small house!

[GloomyWaters]

LF positive so just taken him for PCR test.

ME and DH have done LF and negative

• DS in his room isolating - will put his meals outside
• We have a downstairs toilet - we can use and he can use upstairs bathroom but how do we go on about using the bath if he's using it

It's really grim to isolate from a child in their own house (I'm assuming they're young).

Just wipe things down. Wouldn’t be doing with all the meals outside the door business. How old is he? Couldn’t do that to a child.

How old is your son?

If he's old enough to be isolated from his family he's old enough to clean the bathroom after use.

Hope he remains symptom free

You don’t really NEED to. As you’ll all be isolating from the public now anyway regardless of your esults.

Im guessing every time he using bathroom needs to be antibac down with wipes - same with bath so we can use it????

oh he's 16 so happy having meals in his bedroom!

He has felt abit dodgy the last couple of days...felt hot then shivery and constipated so we put if down to that. Took a LF as he plays a sport so we were told to test - come about that a few kids have tested positive this week!!!

DH was the first in our household with covid just before Xmas last year, we all had to isolate in a one bedroom annex (me, DH and DD3). It was crap, we survived, opened all of the windows and doors daily for fresh air circulation and disinfected/cleaned everything as much and often as possible and accepted that we were all going to get it due to close contact.

Am I missing something here - is this a child? The whole household needs to isolate until the result, he doesn’t need to isolate on his own?

Yes what @NoNobramma said

@GloomyWaters

Im guessing every time he using bathroom needs to be antibac down with wipes - same with bath so we can use it????

Yes this is what we did with all contact surfaces, bleach/antibac (until it ran out) and then white vinegar

He could wear a mask when outside his room? And you as well? Do you have a garden? If he's well enough you could spend some time together in the garden? Facetime?

His pcr might be negative yet. Lf can pick up a cold virus apparently!

There's some good anti bac mist that you spray on and leave.

Just going on what the NHS site says - to stay in one room away from others, not shared bathroom if possible, meals separately etc.

I wouldn't worry too much about the bath unless you're all licking it, the most important thing will be for him to leave the window open and to get in the habit of airing his own room. If you can all eat together outside that would be good to have some social contact, otherwise given he's 16 you could keep windows open and have him wear a mask when he's moving around the house.

Do you not think you are going too far?

You live together. Messing about wiping down surfaces and staying in one room isn't going to make any difference.

Just carry on as you normally would around the house.

I would guess that he has already passed it on if he’s going to. He’ll have been infectious for 48 hours before symptoms.
Ventilation is the most important thing to think about, rather than touching surfaces, if you do want to try and avoid it.

The key is fresh air so not breathing in what he’s breathing out/coughing:sneezing

So I would be keeping my distance and opening all windows: if he’s happy chilling in his room then eve be better!

Just to give you a bit of hope, we were in exactly the same situation around 3 weeks ago- 16yo DS tested positive, me and DP haven’t had coronavirus but haven’t got vaccine protection yet and we live in a normal sized house with one shared bathroom. He isolated in his room (happily) for 10 days, meals left outside the door, regular video calls, lots of antibacterial wipes/ hand gel etc and we cleaned the door handles, light switches and shared bathroom a few times a day with gloves on. Also kept windows slightly open in house when we could, especially in shared areas upstairs. Gave him his own towels to use and washed them on hot. Washed all dishes/cutlery he used in dishwasher.

It worked- he recovered fine and we didn’t catch it! Really glad we were careful as my DP has asthma and not sure how he would have manage if he caught covid.

You don't need to isolate from each other
Unless one of you is CEV and unvaccinated then just isolate as a family FGS

My dd was positive Christmas eve. We live in a small house. I didn't get it.

We had windows open at all times
Wiped everything
Hand washing all the time
She touched nothing. I got all her food etc, turned tv over etc
I wore a mask all the time.
She didn't isolate in her room

Are you vulnerable, if not just treat it as any other infectious disease in the house, be vigilant and wash hands and don't share towels and stuff like that

@Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep

You don't need to isolate from each other Unless one of you is CEV and unvaccinated then just isolate as a family FGS

I thought you were supposed to try and isolate from the rest of the household. To try and stop them getting ill.

Poor thing, having to sit in his room.

I'm we just accepted the inevitable and carried on as usual inside the house. In the event 3/4 of us caught it.

I honestly wouldn’t bother trying to isolate if you live in the same house you probably will get it . It was the same in our house and yes we caught it off dc but to hide my dc away for 10 days seems cruel and a bit pointless tbh .

@DinosaurDiana

Poor thing, having to sit in his room.

He's 16 - that's all they do!!