exposed to chicken pox - should we stay in?

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dd1 has just had chicken pox, now fully recovered and no longer infectious. it's 16 days since her first spot and i'm waiting to see if dd2 (8 months) gets it. no sign yet but incubation period 7 - 21 days i believe.
my question is do i need to keep dd2 away from other people until the 21 days are up?

if she does get it, she'll be infectious for a couple of days before spots arrive so i'll be in the dark. don't want to risk her passing it on to pregnant woman, other children and people with suppressed immune system but could do to go out and do some shopping...

am i right to be this cautious or am i being over cautious?

I would add a few days on to allow for the start of DD1's infectious period and go from there - probably best to avoid other children etc for another 2-3 days but I don't think shopping would be too bad (unless you went for an internet delivery )

what? stay in for 3 weeks?
er, no. i dont think thats neccessary.

i think some thought to where you might be going, if you might be in contact with immuno-suppressed persons might be a good idea, but no, i dont think people should stay in for 3 weeks just in case they may have a v common childhood infection that most people probably ought to have as children to get it out of the way.

Dd was exposed to chicken pox at least eight times during big outbreaks at pre-school and school before she finally caught it. That would have been a whole load of (wasted) quarantine.

Not necessary to stay in, IMO.

thanks. not food shopping, other stuff. she'd be in buggy and isn't ill at all. and yes, if i add 21 days from the end of dd1s infectious period i'll be confined to barracks for a long time!
won't take her to a play group or anything but will maybe risk shopping centre...

Goodness, loads of kids at dd's pre-school have siblings with chicken pox - they all keep attending until or unless they get ill themselves

Think shopping is fine anyway, a baby in a buggy isn't going to be very infectious

Same as wigwam

My peadiatrician told me it was not necessary to stay in after exposure to CP. I know someone who did keep her children in for three weeks after exposure to CP, and they didn't even develop it!

that is the risk belgo! as it happens i'm still waiting for a cement delivery which was an hour away at 0900 so we haven't gone anywhere. but tomorrow is another day! thanks to all for posting!