WWYD? Vulnerable with covid in the house

[AnotherUser202]

Hi there,

I had covid for the first time recently. I’m in the vulnerable category due to an autoimmune condition. I wasn’t sure what precautions to take when my son got covid. All the advice from my GP and online is around what to do with people outside your house.

Just wanting to gather from people what they are doing within their own homes when a family member gets covid, particularly if one of them is vulnerable.

its primarily transmitted by breathing in air that an infected person breathes out. So ventilation is key.

Windows open, HEPA filtration in rooms if you can afford, especially use these in the infected persons room and outside their door. Extractor fans in bathroom.
Mask wearing for everyone whenever
the infected person leaves their room until all rooms and corridors are fully refreshed with clean air. Try to use separate bathrooms if possible (the toilet fecal plume is real….) toilet lid down to flush and keep your toothbrushes and towels out of the way.

Note: even a very,
very faint line indicates infectiousness and the fecal matter can still be a source of infection even after testing -ve by nose/throat swab so keep bathroom precautions for longer.

Three NHS workers in my house, we've had 5 episodes of covid but only once passed on right at the beginning before I knew I had it or we knew much about it. Since then if anybody ill we avoid each other by staying in different rooms or wear a mask if preparing food/sharing a car. That plus hand hygiene seems to have been enough not to transmit it to anybody else in the house.

Im classed as extremely vulnerable. So far we’ve tried:

me leaving the house once the DC showed symptoms. It didn’t work, I was already incubating it so just took it with me and was on my own with very few supplies unable to shop and with a raging temperature trying to sort out treatment - if this is your plan be very organised on what you have with you and what your backup plan is if

me hiding in my room when I contracted it from a source external to the family (did work, no one else got it). I FFP3 masked up to go into other areas of the house and it was late summer so we kept doors/windows open

my children are primary school aged though so not self sufficient so it’s very hard to isolate if I catch it.

I think testing is key. If you’re prewarned that it’s coming then you can get organised and avoid spread.

I just cleaned everything more rigorously. We have all had covid but interestingly, not at the same time. If I lived with someone extremely vulnerable I think the thing I would do differently is not sleep in the same bed as them.

Ventilation ventilation ventilation.

Try and keep separate bathrooms and ventilate these, and always close the lid when flushing.

Everyone should mask with an N95 but especially the sick person.

Try and keep the sick person in an isolation room, with windows open, and minimise the time that person spends in shared spaces. Be aware the virus can linger in the air for hours, so even empty rooms aren't necessarily safe if they haven't been aired out.

If you have an air purifier, run it on full.