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Original poster

You don't have to isolate within the home!

72 replies

DockOTheBay · 22/12/2021 23:19

A lot of people seem to be saying things like "I've tested positive, I'll have to have Christmas lunch in my bedroom alone" or "DH has tested positive, now I have to work from home while looking after a 4 year old on my own".
Just a reminder that you don't HAVE to isolate from family members. You don't HAVE to deep clean the bathroom every time one of you goes in etc.
I realise some people may choose to do this if they live with an unvaccinated or extremely vulnerable person, but you don't have to!

OP posts:
lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 23/12/2021 06:36

Yes I think everyone has to make their own judgment on this depending on their circumstances. I don't have my 2 DC for Christmas this year - they go off to their Dad's today. I tested positive on Monday. Even though they are a bit older (young teens) and more self sufficient, there was no way I was going to seal myself in a room and not see them before Christmas as well as not for Christmas.

I have worn a mask the whole time and we have not been to close to each other. Plus testing every day. It's been sad not hugging them or being able to do anything that feels close but it felt like the right compromise for us.

Madhatterrrrr · 23/12/2021 06:40

People aren’t stupid, we know Confused. Most of the people isolating within their own households are doing so because they’re trying to protect their family from being infected for various reasons, be it because someone is vulnerable, or needs to continue working to ensure money comes in, or just doesn’t want them to be unwell because they care about them for example Confused

Xmasprrssiehelp · 23/12/2021 06:47

I think you are confusing yourself OP.

DS has covid, I am going all the caring as I am boosted and DH isn’t. We are isolating them from each other as we don’t want them BOTH ill.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 23/12/2021 06:49

but that is the advice
stay in your room,
leave meals outside the bedroom

honeyandbutterontoast · 23/12/2021 06:55

Ten days or even seven shut in my room whilst meals get delivered sounds bloody lovely.

Sadly though as a single mum with 2 teens, I know they’d leave me to starve. And I’ve seen the state of my kitchen when they’ve spent a day alone when I’ve been at work. Plus I can imagine every five minutes the bang on the door “muuuuum where’s my jumper, muuuum she’s looking at me funny, muuuuum the washing machine’s flooded the floor…”

So I know that it will be situation normal for me if I’m the one to get it… unless of course I isolate them in their rooms (for their own safety of course Grin) and I can potter round the rest of the house watching tv and eating snacks and cuddling the ddogs .
I mean, I could interpret the guidance that way right…???

Twizbe · 23/12/2021 06:57

I agree with you OP. Right at the start of this DH and I agreed to sink or swim together. There'd be no isolating from each other or the kids if one of us got it.

Prescottdanni123 · 23/12/2021 07:01

Some people already know this and choose to isolate. How they handle being covid positive is their decision.

TulipsGarden · 23/12/2021 07:03

This is why not isolating household contacts, even if just for five days like in other countries, is completely mad.

It would be impossible for us to isolate. We don't have a spare room, or a spare bed, and only one bathroom. We also have a three year old, who clearly can't isolate. And anyway, people are most infectious before they show symptoms. The assumption should be that if one of your household has it, the others will too.

lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 23/12/2021 07:04

I think lots of people are taking the black and white guidelines / advice with a pinch of salt now. I think it's a combination of a few things.

We are learning to live with this thing hanging over our heads and we can't live our lives being so extreme on a permanent basis (as it feels this is not going away)

We adapt to what we can do and don't have to follow everything to the letter (I am currently positive- I won't be leaving the house, we are all testing every day but I am spending time with my kids inside the house at a distance)

I know many people are refusing to test before Christmas so they can have their Christmas. I don't agree with this but it makes me feel angry and therefore less likely to lock myself up in a sealed room for the greater good when others aren't even bothering to test. They will be the ones spreading this over Christmas not me!

Finally and probably most significantly for me - I have lost all respect for the people providing the guidance (not the NHS obviously- I am talking about the government) so I will now live my life accordingly using my own judgment- testing daily and following guidelines as much is reasonable. I refuse to carry on blindly sticking to the rules when they themselves are not.

lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 23/12/2021 07:06

@honeyandbutterontoast

Same! (But I am positive) .. see my last 2 posts.

Marchitectmummy · 23/12/2021 07:07

Of course people know however most people want to avoid making each other ill don't they?

MrsLargeEmbodied · 23/12/2021 07:10

dd was happy to isolate
me, up and down stairs leaving food outside her room while i had to wfh

Coughee · 23/12/2021 07:13

That's not how I'd have read those threads tbh. Guidance isn't the same as having to do something either. Saying you should try and do something isn't the same as saying you have to do it and I think the vasy majority of people know that.

lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 23/12/2021 07:22

@Coughee

Agreed. But I think many people are now choosing to exercise their own common sense (and largely operating as they should do) rather than blindly following what we have been told to do. It's not sustainable. I have been following the rules to the letter up until now with no questions.. but recent weeks have changed my views on this. Of course I have had all my vacations, I am not leaving the house, I am not going near my DC whilst I am positive.

But I am also not in a sealed room (impossible as a single parent)

I am not getting a PCR (my lateral flows have been positive for 3 days and I have symptoms- all a PCR will do will serve the governments stats and mean I am bombarded with messages telling me what to do when we all already know what to do)

Mybalconyiscracking · 23/12/2021 07:28

Depends whether the rest of the family want to risk catching it and being locked up for 10 days as well. My darling DD has just spent 10 days alone in her bedroom so that the rest of the family can enjoy Christmas Eve.
She is 18 however, wouldn’t have isolated a younger child

Mybalconyiscracking · 23/12/2021 07:32

I agree with @coughee by the way.
Once there is a positive PCR in the house I would assume that a positive LFT for another family member was proof enough of infection and act accordingly, wouldn’t bother with a PCR.
Not that there is anything wrong with government statistics per se.

Alayalaya · 23/12/2021 07:36

Most people who live with an unvaccinated child would isolate if possible to keep them safe. Ditto if they live with a vulnerable person. We know we don’t have to, but it’s common sense to protect loved ones if you can.

CalmDownBoris72 · 23/12/2021 07:36

I wish I could have isolated! Peace for 10 days, dreamy.

The problem with isolating is that you still have the ‘covid fear’ for everyone else after you’ve recovered. Everyone got it I lit house within a day of each other apart from me, I stayed negative the whole way through anyway.

moonfacebaby · 23/12/2021 07:37

My 10 year old DD got it and obviously I wasn’t going to shut her away in her bedroom for 10 days.

I didn’t hug her, used hand gel etc (no masks though) but neither me or her sister got it.

It isn’t always possible to isolate from your family. I know no-one would expect you to shut away a 10 year old. I’m a single parent and if I got it, I’m not sure I could isolate from my kids either..

Honeygoldcaramel · 23/12/2021 07:39

I’ve been a bit shocked people have isolated their own DCs.

Hazelnutbean · 23/12/2021 07:40

There are often very good reasons for isolating in the home as many posters have identified. However, the OP has a point that there seem to be some people who, despite being vaccinated and not vulnerable, and despite not having any other good reason, are being excessively cautious - there was even a thread the other day about whether someone who had Covid, still had to isolate from their young daughter, even though the daughter also had Covid!

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 23/12/2021 07:44

@PollyPepper

I'm in the emergency services and the wife of a colleague of mine has just tested positive. I'll be furious tbh if she doesn't isolate and he brings it into the team and take out my Christmas. So whilst people don't HAVE to I bloody hope they do.
You do understand not everyone can though? If one of us gets it we'll just be carrying on as normal at home as we don't have the space to isolate from each other.
lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 23/12/2021 07:45

@moonfacebaby
Yes exactly. My DC are a bit older (11 and 14 and can cook some pasta and empty the dishwasher etc but not step up to everything else (DD has MH issues on top which adds to the complications!)

This isn't the same as a nuclear family situation where one parent can be in a sealed off environment is it?

Shudacudawuda · 23/12/2021 07:52

I’ve been a bit shocked people have isolated their own DCs.

Me too! My DD had it, she's 8. It didn't even occur to me to shut her away in her room.

She still was given plenty of hugs and kisses, I accepted it was our turn to all have it. None of us caught it off her though.

Toomanypeople · 23/12/2021 07:54

I did but only to minimize the risk of passing it to others in my house. Why wouldn't you try not to put your family at risk of catching it if you can.