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Original poster

Avoiding covid when it's in the house?

34 replies

ReviewingTheSituation · 16/02/2022 15:17

DH tested positive this morning. He had mild cold symptoms on Monday, tested negative Mon and Tues, positive today. I'm still testing negative.
We have no plans to totally isolate from each other for 10 days, but what about sleeping? Should one of us sleep in the spare room?

I've heard of so many households where not everyone gets it, and of course plenty where everyone does too. I'm kind of 'what will be will be'. In some ways, I'd rather just have it now it's in the house - it will come to us all sooner or later, after all, but then part of me wonders if I should be doing whatever I can to avoid it. Given that he's been symptomatic for 3 days (and therefore most likely infectious), surely the damage is done?

What have other people done when it first 'hits'?

OP posts:
Lushmetender · 16/02/2022 15:20

We slept apart when kids had it. Both DH and I didn’t catch it then. But we have been exposed again at the weekend. Hoping we don’t catch it.

mynameiscalypso · 16/02/2022 15:23

We slept apart once DH had tested positive. It didn't make any difference and I still caught it. It's so random though.

SatinHeart · 16/02/2022 15:24

We didn't do anything at all to isolate from each other in the house as we have small DC (who got it first) so not possible to isolate from them. DH still never came up positive. Everyone else did though!
It's entirely up to you really - there is a decent chance the damage is done and if nobody is actually vulnerable, maybe don't sleep separately if you don't want to?

Original poster
ReviewingTheSituation · 16/02/2022 15:39

If it was the other way around, I'd probably feel differently. DH is the vulnerable one (diabetic), so if it was me that had it first, there'd be more incentive to stop him catching it.

From a T&T perspective, he's only on day 0 today, but I'm kind of hoping that given his symptoms started on Monday that he'll start testing negative before the 10 days are up (I totally know that's entirely unpredictable, but we can hope...)

OP posts:
Imsittinginthekitchensink · 16/02/2022 15:45

I didn't do anything differently, me and DD both had it, 6 weeks apart and both times carried on as usual re spending time together and use of house etc. Can't say I did any additional cleaning either.

Jules912 · 16/02/2022 15:46

When DD had it the only thing I did was try and stop the kids actually touching each other (and that was mostly because DS was still going to school), I cuddled her for most the first week and got sneezed on yet none of us got it. We do seem to be in the minority though.

CruCru · 16/02/2022 15:48

Problem is, if you try to keep separate then it’s more likely you’ll test positive on his day 9. Might be easier to get it sooner rather than later.

BigSandyBalls2015 · 16/02/2022 15:49

DH had it, pre vaccines, and we all carried on as normal, sleeping in the same bed etc. I didn't catch it, neither did our DDs.

Bettyboop3 · 16/02/2022 15:53

Why would you rather just have it now? You do know you can catch it more than once?

Seeline · 16/02/2022 15:55

DD17 tested positive last Thursday, but thinking back had a bad headache all Tuesday and was really tired Wednesday so had probably all ready started it. As soon as she tested she was staying in her room as much as possible but DH and I both started with cold symptoms over the weekend and tested positive on Monday

Original poster
ReviewingTheSituation · 16/02/2022 15:56

Yes - I know you can have it more than once, but that's more likely with different variants (ie - people catching Omicron now are more likely to have had Delta/Alpha etc as their previous infection). I guess not much is known about reinfection with Omicron.

It's not that I WANT to get it - clearly not. But if it's inevitable anyway (or highly likely) then I'd rather have it now, than when he's just finished 10 days isolating, seeing as I'm going to limit contact with people outside our household during that first 10 days.

OP posts:
Bettyboop3 · 16/02/2022 16:33

I had it 4 weeks ago, had been in close contact with my husband, shared a bed watching tv with my daughter & given my granddaughter her bottle & put her to bed, next morning tested positive then isolated for the duration & none of them caught it so it's not inevitable to catch it.

DazzleNoOne · 16/02/2022 16:39

@ReviewingTheSituation

DH tested positive this morning. He had mild cold symptoms on Monday, tested negative Mon and Tues, positive today. I'm still testing negative. We have no plans to totally isolate from each other for 10 days, but what about sleeping? Should one of us sleep in the spare room?

I've heard of so many households where not everyone gets it, and of course plenty where everyone does too. I'm kind of 'what will be will be'. In some ways, I'd rather just have it now it's in the house - it will come to us all sooner or later, after all, but then part of me wonders if I should be doing whatever I can to avoid it. Given that he's been symptomatic for 3 days (and therefore most likely infectious), surely the damage is done?

What have other people done when it first 'hits'?

Dh was unwell Saturday (headache) and Sunday (ill in the night) and then tested positive on Monday no morning. We stayed away from each other then, but youngest Ds tested positive on Tuesday and I tested positive on Wednesday. Teens didn't catch it.

DazzleNoOne · 16/02/2022 16:40

I think I'd already caught it by the time dh tested positive tbh

AmaDablam · 16/02/2022 16:48

We did absolutely nothing differently within the household when DH and DD tested positive -slept in the same bed, same bathroom, kisses and cuddles etc. Like you I figured the damage had probably been done and if I was going to get it, I'd rather it was when they were isolating anyway, or at least a bit of an overlap. I never got it, much to my amazement, and was doing daily LFTs so unlikely they'd all be false negatives.

Friends on the other hand, meticulously isolated their Covid positive teens, and yet both parents still got it.

Blackbird2020 · 16/02/2022 16:53

I think unless you or someone you have close contact with is vulnerable, or if you work somewhere that can’t handle you going off sick, then just relax and try to treat it like all the other winter bugs that are doing the rounds at the moment…. It’s a bit of a mental shift compared to the past 2 years’ approach, but for our sanity I think it’s a necessary one that almost all of us will face sooner or later!

hopeishere · 16/02/2022 16:53

When DS got it he was old enough to isolate and none of the rest of us got it.

When DS2 got it he couldn't isolate and me and DH both caught it.

dementedpixie · 16/02/2022 16:57

Dh had it
I still shared the bed and living spaces with him and didn't catch it. The kids didn't get it but as they are teenagers they avoided us a lot anyway!

SymbollocksInteractionism · 16/02/2022 16:58

I had covid a few weeks ago. There's 5 of us in the house and it didn't spread to anyone else.
I was isolated in my room for a week (quite enjoyed it actually!) We decided to do it that way as we didn't want the kids to have any more time off school.

bumblingbovine49 · 16/02/2022 18:28

I have it at the moment. Only ill for a couple of days at the beginning on day 8 now and feeling back to normal. I am still isolating in my room though for the 10 days or until I test negative because DS has a work experience placement next week and if possible I'd like to try to avoid him having to miss that

I do go downstairs with mask on but if so, DH and DS are upstairs and I open all the windows before coming back to my room . I am a bit fed up but if it stops DS missing his work experience week, it is worth it and only a couple more days to go

ifonly4 · 16/02/2022 18:52

We decided to sleep apart in the hope we could delay me getting it for a day or two, so I could support DH at his worst, and in return he'd do the same for me. First night was awful, I had a headache, felt sick, ravenous and so alert, so I ended up getting up in the night for food (despite feeling sick). It took me 2.5 days to test positive!

ImGoingOutOut · 16/02/2022 19:02

We didn't do anything when my husband got it, we have 3 young children and they continued to act as they normally do with their dad, we figured we'd all get it anyway. I still shared a bed, sat on the sofa with him and I was wfh whilst he was in the house all day. Only thing I didn't do was kiss him on the lips. Only my husband got it. We tested loads up to 12/13 days after he tested positive. We thought maybe the children and I had it first but no symptoms (we don't test the children unless they have symptoms or someone close has it so it's very possible).

AnnaSW1 · 16/02/2022 19:32

We slept together throughout and I didn't get it

positivevibesonly22 · 16/02/2022 20:37

There's four of us and we've had it at different times, not from each other and carried on as normal within the house. No extra cleaning, sleeping separately for me and DH, all ate together. Treated it as we would a cold which thankfully is what it was like.

FoggySpecs · 16/02/2022 20:48

DS had something important on so we kept him and DD apart, he still caught it, although we think it was from a boy at school. I then got it a week later. Slept in bed with DH who has never tested positive despite having two autoimmune conditions and beings kissed by DC. Confused

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