Uni students, positive close contacts, coming home for Christmas...

[elegy]

I guess there must be a lot of us in the same boat and I'm just wondering how other people are managing it.

DD went out last night with a small group of friends for a Christmas meal before they went their separate ways for the holidays. This morning one of the friends did a routine LFT before travelling home and got a positive.

We were planning to go and get my DD on Sunday. There are 4 of us here, all double jabbed, DH and I boosted (but quite recently.) DH has a v important work thing on Monday. So, my question is -

Option 1: do I go and get DD now, before she tests positive (masks on, windows down in the car) and ask her to isolate at home while waiting to do a PCR?

Or option 2: do we wait until Monday when I could go while DH is doing his important work thing, and so swerve the possibility of him having had a close contact? This means I could also get all the outside xmas preparation done so we could all isolate here if necessary, but opens up the strong possibility that she'll be positive by then.

For context, our house isn't huge and we'll be sharing a bathroom. (I'm not including the third option of leaving her there over Christmas!)

My preference is for option 2, but I'm not sure if it's considered the height of feckless irresponsibility to travel after a positive LFT? My head's spinning a bit with all the implications for the coming week (and beyond) so some objective wisdom would be much appreciated!

Option 2. If by chance she tests positive you can rethink your plans or just ensure you go from a to b with absolutely no stops.

Thanks Alice That seems like the most sensible choice but I wasn't sure if there was a problem I hadn't thought of.

I saw a post on fb earlier from someone in a similar situation who was leaving to get their dd immediately, before she got a positive result, with the implication that as soon as she did she'd have to stay where she is. I wondered if I was missing something, or there were rules I wasn't aware of.

I understood that you were allowed to get home even after a positive. For uni students this included travelling to their non uni home. A lot came stay in halls etc over holidays. The expectation was that you would be as safe and sensible as possible.

Can you do option 1, but your DH stay somewhere else for the weekend? He can come back after important work thing.

What does your DD want?

2 sounds reasonable to me.
Hope it's not too rotten for you OP.

If you need to stop for toilet break on journey then option 1.
If no stops then option 2.
I wouldn't consider option 3 either, absolutely no way.
Your DH has just as much chance of catching it on Monday.

Thanks everyone, I'm grateful for the input.

No toilet stops required on the journey as it's only a couple of hours. DD is very willing to fit in with whatever we decide as she feels really bad about it (I've told her there's no need, it was literally her only xmas event and she's had a really tough year with one thing and another, so she deserved some fun.) I don't think there's anywhere else DH could go, we don't have family nearby so that's not an option, though it would be a good plan if there was a helpful brother or MIL down the road!

I'm reassured to know that what I'm thinking of doesn't seem either mad, dangerous or illegal and am grateful for all the replies (and good wishes Wilko - thank you!)

I'd just go and get her. Incubation is typically 3-6 days so better to be stuck in a car with her now than on Monday! DH can keep his distance and she can stay in her room at home.

I wouldn't leave it as she may actually be unwell and not want to travel and being stuck alone feeling rubbish is not nice.

We’ve just had this scenario. Two of dds closest friends both tested positive. Dd has done 4 lfts over the past couple of days and today and all negative but that could change! We’ve just carried on as usual, she came home, we’ve not changed any plans etc. Its very difficult because you want them to have a life and experience the whole university culture and for dd that’s been clubbing every / most nights 🙈🤦🏼‍♀️😩 but what can you do?? I’m in the clinically extremely vulnerable group but have been triple jabbed and we can just hope for the best. To be fair I’m just as likely to catch it doing the stuff I have been doing like shopping etc. Urgggghhh.