What do you even do about Covid now?

[nicolewi]

DS tested positive today. Instant positive. We haven't had Covid since they dropped all the restrictions. In our district, kids just go to school with Covid, as long as they are fever-free and not vomiting. Which still seems absolutely nuts. There's no masking whatsoever. Hasn't been for a LONG time already. So...I'll see how DS is when he is fever free for 24 hours; I imight still keep him home for 5 days but it's not excused anymore if you keep kids home longer than the district recommends. Maybe I just say he still has a fever if I don't feel comfortable sending him back? It's like any other illness and I don't think people are really testing anymore; i was just super curious b/c it started to seem like DS had something unusual.

But like...do you do anything at home? Or just figure your kids are probably out with kids with Covid all the time anyway so why bother isolating? We've all been together for days already, and when the rest of us had Covid last spring and didn't really isolate at all, DS never tested positive. Now he's positive. We were all close together all day yesterday. 

[mrsGreeko]

We’ve had covid in our house three times (different people each time, no one has had it more than once, DH hasn’t gotten it yet at all). It’s never spread in the house and we have never done anything to prevent it from spreading in the house. So I wouldn’t do anything, but it seems I’m the exception. I treat it like any other illness.

[dcn]

I had it before Xmas and I wore a mask around the kids but otherwise nothing different. No one else got it fwiw.

[krystee]

If our school had no guidance, I would do whatever the CDC currently says to do. Our school is still five days, so that’s what we would do.

[Bad Dingo]

I'm sorry you're dealing with more sickness. At the very least, I'd follow CDC guidelines and isolate for 5 days and then mask for 5 more.

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/diagnosed.htm

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/schools.htm

[osulori]

When my husband, kid #2, and I all had it a month ago the adults masked up and we asked kid #1 to mask up if he was around us (he's 9, kid #2 is 3 and would wear a mask but we got tired of her ripping it off). #1 stayed negative the whole time with daily tests so off to school he went with his mask on. Thankfully I can drop off/pickup without getting out of the car, because damn did he need some semblance of a routine. We went by CDC guidance with him, but with kid #2 she got it from her babysitter's and they said she could come back once she tested negative (which ended up being about day 8) and she did not have to wear a mask at that point.

[erbear]

Jan 9, 2023 20:19:29 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

I'm sorry you're dealing with more sickness. At the very least, I'd follow CDC guidelines and isolate for 5 days and then mask for 5 more.

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/diagnosed.htm

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/schools.htm

This. I know many people have given up on precautions but Covid is still dangerous to people so we still take precautions (test when we’re sick, mask up, stay home from school for 5 days, etc)

[beerlover]

Basically the opposite situation, but H and I had it in September and DS did not. I continued to send him to school and he wore a mask, though he didn't have to. We masked around him and tried to stay somewhat apart for 10 days. He did not get it.

I'd try to keep your other kids away from him as much as possible and have them mask around him. Couldn't hurt.

I'd just keep him out all week and lie about having a fever probably, and not feel bad about it, because that's an asinine policy. Even our district in rural PA does 5 days!

[goldengirlz]

Jan 9, 2023 20:19:29 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

I'm sorry you're dealing with more sickness. At the very least, I'd follow CDC guidelines and isolate for 5 days and then mask for 5 more.

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/diagnosed.htm

www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/schools.htm

H actually has covid now and he’s been isolating in the basement. Truthfully I’d be okay with him masking around us, but he’s insistent he doesn’t want us to catch it. His work says he can’t come back until day 10 or a negative test.

Our school follows CDC guidelines. DC has been able to return, as long as they’re masked. I’m not sure what my work guidelines are, but I’ve been working from home. I also cancelled some in-person meetings because there still plenty of covid-cautious people here and they appreciated the heads up.

[timorousbeastie]

DD’s district gave up on COVID long ago, so they have no rules about it. Kids are encouraged to go to school with COVID, with no expectation of masking while sick. As a high risk household, we don’t really have the luxury of pretending COVID is just like any other illness. As such, our plan is still isolation for at least 5 days plus masking for 5 more days. If still positive on a rapid, assume they are still contagious and keep isolating. If my DD is not the sick one, she can go to school with a mask and testing each morning. If my DD is the sick one, she will be staying home until a negative test, even if that’s longer than 5 days. I don’t really care that her school would probably have an issue with that; I have no intention of endangering the lives of other high risk families in the district just because the district is over it.

[redpenmama]

I decided a long time ago we weren't going to isolate within the home. When H had it, he wore a mask around us but we had already been exposed on a road trip when he came down with symptoms (it did not spread, FWIW). When my son had it, he was asymptomatic and we didn't isolate (it also didn't spread)—it just didn't seem realistic to keep a kid who felt totally fine locked in his room all day. We're all up-to-date on vaccinations and no one is high risk, so that's a decision I'm comfortable with for my family.

But out of respect for high-risk/immunocompromised people in the community, I would stick to CDC guidelines on staying at home after a positive test regardless of what the school district says.

[Velar Fricative]

No masking or isolation inside our home anymore, our only rule is that whoever tests positive needs to stay the eff home for 5 days.

[brooklyn]

I’d follow cdc guidelines. I had it 2 weeks before Christmas, and never had a fever. Just a huge headache/congestion/lost of taste and appetite. I isolated for 6 days and rejoined the family when I stopped testing positive. Nobody else in my family got it.

[abs]

It’s frustrating to me how hard it is to stay home when you are sick. DD missed 3 days with the flu and it felt more like 3 weeks with the insane make up work. Based on that I see why some just send sick kids to school. I still wouldn’t do it though. Follow the CDC guidelines.

At home we isolate if either DH or I gets sick. If DD is the one to bring home an illness (which is usually how it goes) we don’t bother.

[shauni27]

Jan 9, 2023 22:14:28 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

No masking or isolation inside our home anymore, our only rule is that whoever tests positive needs to stay the eff home for 5 days.

this. We have only had household covid once last summer and we did not isolate from him at all; we figured, lets all try to get it at once so we do not have to isolate for weeks and weeks (son was not allowed at daycare with a positive HHM). We basically followed the above rule.

[fortnightlily]

I masked/isolated from DS in our home over the summer mostly because I didn't want him to have to miss a week of expensive, nonrefundable camp. If one of us tested positive now I don't think I'd bother trying to isolate/mask in the home.

If DH or I were positive, I'd test DS each morning and if he was negative, send him to school in a mask. If he tested positive I'd keep him home for 5 days and send him back with a mask days 6-10 if symptoms were improving. Though if he tested negative for two days in a row I'd send him back/drop the mask 'early'.

[jennistarr1]

Here's my two thoughts

Is your school nurse approachable? while she/he could just repeat the district policy they might have practical advice or what they think is best

when one of us gets it...I put in a good faith effort to try and prevent the spread, within the house and without. The sick person sleeps away from others, eats in our dining room (which is 6 feet away from the rest of us at kitchen island), masks when near others...and we do cleaning and wiping down of surface areas. Covid person doesn't leave the house and go to public places...but car rides or walks and all ok. 

So far, that's has worked, and it hasn't spread. But if it didn't work...we can at least say "oh well, we tried" and rip the bandaid off

[nicolewi]

I am so, so tired of making these decisions since Covid started. I think I've said the same thing earlier. The constant juggling and mental math is not fun. I wish the district just had a regular policy stating that you have to stay home 5 days, not that they want to keep kids in school and to treat Covid as you would any other illness.

DS is still clearly sick so he is still home. I tested both my younger girls this am as they already had mild cold symptoms (prior to DS), but both were negative. I think we have two things going on.

My kids have had SO many illnesses since around Thanksgiving. It's been just crazy.

[steamboat185]

When DH and DD had it I made DH stay in the guest room for 4-5 days. He had to work anyway and had a variety of symptoms. (Zero desire to sleep next to someone coughing all night). DD1 was the faintest positive with no symptoms so she was allowed to move around the house without a mask. If someone is sick I don’t really want to have them hanging out anyway, but if they are asymptomatic I don’t mind. Our school still requires 5 days off and they are excused so we would follow that rule.

[hermione]

Our school doesn't even want to know if our kid has COVID. We're supposed to treat it like any other illness. Fever free for 24 hours? Send her in.

When COVID actually was in our house, my husband (the positive) isolated in the guest room. C (9yo) never popped a positive but developed symptoms. This was right before Thanksgiving so I didn't have to make any decisions, she was off school for the 5 days the CDC says to stay home. CDC says to mask for another 5 days. I didn't make her do that because she never actually popped positive and was symptom free. Our doctor didn't think she had it.

[icedcoffee]

DH was patient zero in our house. He immediately went to the basement and wore a KN95 whenever he left. I started masking around the children and him at that point and the kids wore masks at school. I couldn't isolate because someone needed to care for the kids. 4 days later I tested positive so H and I continued to mask at home and outside the house until we got negative tests. Kids continued to mask at school until we both got negative tests. The kids never got it so I guess masks do work!

Since your school doesn't excuse absences I would:
1. Have DS stay home until he is symptom free and then mask at school with a KN95 until day 10 or a negative test
2. Have you and H mask at home until he is on day 10 or a negative test from DS
3. Have the other 3 kids mask at school until day 10 or a negative test from DS

I'd try to keep DS away from everyone as much as possible to try to prevent the spread especially with so many children in your house who will all go to school and infect other people.

[waverly]

DS tested positive in September. The school quarantined him for 5 days, and it was over Labor Day weekend, so one day was a holiday anyway. The school is not enforcing masks, so they did not require one when he went back to school. If they were then I would have enforced it with him, but since they weren't I didn't force the issue since he could just take it off without me knowing about it when he got there.

I did test positive also. I was quarantined by work for 5 days. After quarantine, I wore a mask for 5 days in the office.

[waverly]

Jan 10, 2023 8:13:11 GMT -5 abs said:

It’s frustrating to me how hard it is to stay home when you are sick. DD missed 3 days with the flu and it felt more like 3 weeks with the insane make up work. Based on that I see why some just send sick kids to school. I still wouldn’t do it though. Follow the CDC guidelines.

At home we isolate if either DH or I gets sick. If DD is the one to bring home an illness (which is usually how it goes) we don’t bother.

Yes! When DS was home for 3 school days for Covid (Wed-Fri) he had SO MUCH make up work.  It took a month to get it all done.

Then he had influenza, but we didn't know he had influenza, and we didn't know he had a fever because it was low grade.  Once, we figured out he had a fever then we kept him home.  But I only took him in for testing until it had been 7 days, and he still wasn't better.  That's when we found out it was influenza.  He only missed 1 days of school though because luckily it was closed for voting and parent teacher conferences.  But he has to be really sick to stay out because he misses a lot.  

[nellywilk]

We had Covid recently and we didn't do anything about it. I isolated myself for couple of days, that's all.
We still had a lot of medication from canadian pharmacy online but i didn't have to take any of those.
Our family is fully vaccinated of course.

[jlt19]

I had it two weeks ago. Had I not been going back to the office the next day, I wouldn’t have even tested. My symptom was almost vertigo like. It lasted two days.

I isolated in my room for 5 days (where my desk is) and DH/kids tested negative once I think.

I masked in my house the next 5 days of around others, but still stayed fairly isolated from the others. I didn’t have to leave the house but I would have masked if so.

It was actually amazing. NOT that I am encouraging getting it or discounting the havoc it can and has caused. I just got REALLY lucky, but also didn’t want to assume the rest of my family would be so lucky.