Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Would you rather everyone in your household gets covid at the same time or one at a time?

31 replies

Invasionofthegutsnatchers · 11/01/2022 07:25

A few families I know have isolated in their own bedrooms when one of them has tested positive. Then a week later another person gets it. Etc

Currently all 4 of us have covid and as we have been boosted and it's a mild variant we are managing to look after each other. It's still a nasty virus but none of us are seriously ill. The kids are old enough to get themselves snacks and drinks. It would be different if they were babies though.

OP posts:
SisterAgatha · 11/01/2022 07:28

All at once. We had dribs and drabs over Xmas, there are 5 of us and so the whole process took about 3 weeks to pass over. If we’d all been positive on day 1 then it could have been short and sharp.

That said ours was all very mild and I didn’t even get it in the end but it was 3 weeks of stress that I could have had in 1 week.

Ozgirl75 · 11/01/2022 07:29

I’m in Australia and here the guidance is that if one person tests positive then they should isolate from the rest of their family.
This is guidance I won’t be following. I’d prefer we all just catch it - my children are 9 and 11 so old enough to get food and drinks and look after themselves if I’m in bed or whatever but not so old to be able to isolate effectively by themselves anyway. I’m more likely to catch it from them when they go back to school anyway.

LadyPenelope68 · 11/01/2022 07:45

I’ve always said separately so you can get food in/help if you’re feeling really I’ll etc. however, as of yesterday now in a position where all 4 of us are positive at same time (me, DH, DS22 and DS19). Thankfully, I’d done a bigger than usual shop on Saturday and have managed to get a delivery for later in the week. All friends/relatives that would usually help out are all isolating themselves!

RichTeaRichTea · 11/01/2022 07:55

We all had it at the same time last week. Much easier because it meant we were all off work and nursery at the same time, and my husband and I could juggle the bits of work we could do from home. Which isn’t to say that it was any fun (it wasn’t) but it was logistically easier and over quicker.

Original poster
Invasionofthegutsnatchers · 11/01/2022 08:06

Oh it's definitely not fun! DS8 is full of beans and refusing to do any home learning. He is very cheeky and winding everyone up. I'd quite like to shut him in his bedroom (joke)! DH does all the school runs when I'm working so I'm glad we've got it all together.

OP posts:
Kokeshi123 · 11/01/2022 08:13

I have already heard of the first cases of people trying to deliberately "get the virus through the family" as quickly as possible (having kids share a bed etc.) in order to minimize the family's isolation time. This is in parts of the US where isolation requirements are onerous.

I mean, it isn't exactly something I would recommend, but I "get" why parents with several kids may do this, if they are confident that the risk of getting very sick from the virus is mild and are panicking about the amount of time off school and work.

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 11/01/2022 08:17

We all had it separately, except ds8 who hasn't had it yet. I've just had it again and everyone else is testing negative. I'd rather not have it at the same time as ds18 as he's been helping out with the younger 2 while I've been in bed shattered ! But we haven't ever isolated from each other when someone's had it

Original poster
Invasionofthegutsnatchers · 11/01/2022 08:18

I wouldn't put a child in isolation within the house unless others were at huge risk being CEV. It's not fair mentally on the child. I do know people who've done this though to avoid getting it. I'm lucky I'm not self employed or on a zero hour contract and I get sick pay. Not everyone is in this position.

OP posts:
Change123today · 11/01/2022 08:19

It feels like it’s dragging itself slowly through the house..18 year old tested positive on the 3rd it took 4 days before I tested positive and 6 for husband….one left still testing negative.

I thought it would be easier as husband and I had it at the same time….nope. I forget how bloody annoying he is when he is sick and how stressed he gets because I’m sick. I go upstairs and he is behind me following me everywhere like a needy child.

I’m struggling with the fatigue and if he sniffs again …I may kill him… why can’t he just blow his bloody nose. Or just sit in another room /house/country right now anywhere than next to me.

CaptainMyCaptain · 11/01/2022 08:26

If everyone is vaccinated and unlikely to be very ill it would be better together but if anyone was badly affected it would be better if someone else was fit enough to look after them. One of my teenage grandsons had it early last year, before vaccinations, he was quite ill for a few days but nobody else in the household of 5 caught it.

RichTeaRichTea · 11/01/2022 08:42

Mine are both preschoolers, there wasn’t any possibility of isolating ourselves anyway. And I got fed up with people telling me to make sure I got plenty of rest! It’s just not like that when ill with small children. We were all ill but fortunately not bad enough to be bedridden, which meant it was very tiring but not worrying.

Moonopoly · 11/01/2022 08:45

The trouble with this is that some people are getting re-infected so having it once doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get it again

RichTeaRichTea · 11/01/2022 09:31

Who here has said that they aren’t expecting to get it again?

RichTeaRichTea · 11/01/2022 09:33

I certainly expect that we as a household will have it again. But the question in the OP was about whether you would prefer your household to have a bout all at once or one at a time. Given current rules, our jobs and the age of my children, and the severity of the illness for us, it was easier to have it all at once. It might be different next time

Anawi · 11/01/2022 09:41

My daughter (11) tested positive on Christmas morning, she was upset already feeling unwell and like she had ruined Christmas. There was no way we could or would have tried to isolate her from the rest of us on Christmas day, it would have been cruel. By the 28th the while household had it. It was pretty rough going for a week or so with both adults feeling lousy and 3 children to care for but we were quite glad too at least have it not too spread out. Not fun though.

ILookAtTheFloor · 11/01/2022 09:44

I've tried to catch it from my husband, it's been a week and so far I haven't.

Want it out of the way now.

FoxtrotSkarloey · 11/01/2022 09:51

DH and I having it at the same time is my worst nightmare. We have a baby and 3yo, both at nursery.

I dread getting ill and having to look after them at the same time.

ThreeFeetTall · 11/01/2022 09:54

We had it one after the other and that was good because we have small children who still wake up in the night so lucky one of us could sleep. Had a long time stuck at home though.

LadyPenelope68 · 11/01/2022 09:56

@Change123today
I’m struggling with the fatigue and if he sniffs again …I may kill him… why can’t he just blow his bloody nose. Or just sit in another room /house/country right now anywhere than next to me.
We’re only on day 2 and I’m feeling like this about my DH. I may have buried him under the patio by day 10 🤣🤣

wendz86 · 11/01/2022 10:08

We didn't isolate from each other at all and still took me 8 days from first child getting it to last child. Also meant i had to isolate for around 16 days in total as once youngest had it i couldn't leave the house as a single parent. Would much rather we had all had it at the same time.

mrsm43s · 11/01/2022 10:17

Eldest DC (teen) has it (today is last day of isolation). She isolated from us, none of the rest of us caught it.

So I don't really think its a choice of "all at once" or "one after another". For us it has been "one of us ill" or "more than one of us ill" and we opted for just one of us to be ill. No need for the rest of us to catch something if we can avoid it.

Obviously, it would be different with younger children who were unable either physically or mentally to cope with isolation. Our 17 yr old has been fine with phone calls/facetime/online school and studying. She had a floor of the house to herself including her own bathroom, and she has a TV in her room. We've been taking meals up on disposable plates/with bamboo cutlery and she's been managing fine. I've missed her like crazy though!

TenoringBehind · 11/01/2022 10:28

One at a time. It would be much easier in terms of walking the dogs.

Lindy2 · 11/01/2022 10:49

We had it all at the same time (each one a few days apart) in January 2021.

It was really hard. DH and I were very ill. We resorted to feeding our children by ordering 2 massive pizzas to be delivered. The pizzas went in the fridge and the kids helped themselves to what they wanted.

When the children then became ill I was barely able to look after them. The best I could do was hand my vomiting child a bowl and lie down on their bedroom floor next to their bed by way of trying to comfort them.

It was grim. I hope to never go through a time like that again. I believe my DD13 is still traumatised by the experience.

womaninatightspot · 11/01/2022 10:55

All at the same time. I have 4dc all primary school aged so if they went one after the other I'd need weeks off work.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 11/01/2022 13:04

Yes because I'm a single parent of an 8yo so I'd have to stay home any time either of us got Covid, better for us to both have it at the same time.