Nursery staff positive - WWYD

[Notalotofinspiration]

Arg. No idea what to do.

Baby is 12 months old. One of the staff at in the baby room has tested positive over the weekend. As per the new guidelines they're not closing the bubble (although the other staff members will be close contacts and have to isolate so they'll be back filling with other staff/agency workers). DD was off last week so good chance she doesn't have it yet but very high chance some of the other babies do, symptomatic or otherwise. They obviously slobber all over each other so highly likely she'd catch it. To complicate matters we currently have building work going on at home so can't have her here, and we can't go to family.

DP and I are both double jabbed but DP has an autoimmune condition that means that if he did get it (not unlikely if it's delta) it would likely be quite debilitating (although probably not dangerous 🤞).

We could potentially find a childminder although that might be quite stressful for DD, and I've no idea how she'd nap in a completely new place.

What would you do??

I’d keep her home and fit round the building work / go out for the day etc at least for a few days until I could see if there were more cases in the baby room.

Unless you're in a position to keep her off for the next 3 weeks, I'd send her in.
Anyone can take 10 days to incubate the virus. After that, there's still a good length of time where they could be contagious.

Have they said about the staffing situation? If the staff are double jabbed they won't have to self isolate..or that is what nursery I work at will do anyway cause not a requirement.

So least be the staff she knows if that is the case.
But if trying to avoid her catching it maybe keep her off? But then how long do you give it? It's hard.

Thanks all. @LetsGoFlyAKiteee apparently they're not all double jabbed, and those that are are on annual leave, so there won't be any of the permanent baby room staff there.

To be honest, it’s only a matter of time. If her missed it this time around will get it the next. My 3 year old had had to isolate 4 times from nursery from this year alone. No that contacts don’t have to isolate covid will be everywhere.

Tbh this is going to happen a LOT this winter. Are you going to be able to keep her off every time? No.
I’ve had to come to terms with the fact the my children (primary school) are going to get it this autumn and I therefore probably will too.
The younger the child the less likely they will get it.

If you had teenagers the chances of bringing it home would be far far higher

I was in this exact situation except I’m the one with the autoimmune disease, not DH. We sent DS as normal.

If the building work is the only reason you'd want her to go in, then I'd keep her off. If it's ok for you to be in the house while it's going on, then it's ok for her, she just might be a bit grisly if she can get to sleep so easily. If you need to be out during the day, then she can be with you.

In a similar situation we kept our daughter at home for ten days. Luckily we escaped it this time (touch wood)

I'm in a similar position, sending DD to nursery knowing she is at risk of catching covid due to positive case. I feel like we have to send her, otherwise she will never go back, and we have to work.

@Frazzled2207

Tbh this is going to happen a LOT this winter. Are you going to be able to keep her off every time? No. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact the my children (primary school) are going to get it this autumn and I therefore probably will too. The younger the child the less likely they will get it. If you had teenagers the chances of bringing it home would be far far higher

Why less likely to get the younger the child? Isn’t it just less likely to show symptoms and less likely to be tested?

@CarrieBlue
Yes I suppose it could be an element of that but far far less preschoolers have been ill with covid compared to older children and teenagers. I work with preschool settings and surprisingly some have not had a single positive case among children the whole time. Staff (mostly very young adults) a whole different matter.

Thanks for all the advice. We've got DD a place with a childminder this week and will see how things go. She actually seems to prefer the childminder to nursery at the moment which leaves us with a new quandary