Someone brought this up on the last thread about how to self isolate if someone in the home is suspected of having the virus and you want to avoid other family members getting it.
In our household of two, we were just talking about that last night. We concluded that there is about two options.
One option is to pay for a motel room or if another vacant place is available, to have either the affected person or the non affected person stay in a separate place for a period of time. That option is obviously a difficult one to choose for many reasons but we did consider that and have it as a possibility. The other option is to create an isolated room in the home for the sick person and try to confine that person as best as possible to that room to avoid spreading germs to other members of the household.
For option 2 and due to the fact that germs can live on surfaces for a period of time and due to the fact it may not be obvious when the affected person is fully cured and not shedding virus anymore, it makes it difficult to know how long the affected person should remain isolated. And of course pets like dogs and cats become an almost impossible thing to avoid having contact with. We know that pets are not supposed to be able to catch it, but I do wonder about a wet dogs nose coming up to an affected person and then immediately going to greet a healthy family members. Transfer of virus from one person to another by a wet friendly pet's nose is not something I have seen studied yet. I seriously doubt I would be able to have one of us isolated in the home and not be able to greet our beloved dog.
Based on risk of the unaffected family members catching it, we concluded option 1 is probably the safer option but causes the most disruption and can be costly. Option 2 is probably what we will do but we expect we will fail and probably both end up getting sick if one of us catches it.
Its so important for everyone to try to avoid catching it to begin with. That way, we are not faced with these tough decisions.
No hotels, please. I've gotten sick from hotels and been extremely sick in a hotel, it's horrible. My husband actual flew in and drove me home, one time.
Suggestions and y'all know by now I'm quite brass...
Set up one bedroom. You can use a bedside commode or a toilet seat from Lowes and a large bucket. If you have only one bathroom DO NOT contaminate it. You will infect the caregiver and re-infect the patient.
If weather permits, use a window fan to "suck" the air to the outside. A box fan works well, in reverse mode.
Use all disposable dishes, utensils, etc.
Bag and contain all sheets, towels, linen in the sick bedroom. Don't try to wash if you are the only caregiver.
Take care of the caregiver!!! The caregiver must be protected. Use household cleaning gloves, drop in a bleach pan 5 mins, rinse hang to dry. Get plenty of rest, save your every and don't over do it. You can clean when all are recovered ... just seal off the bedroom...tape large plastic over the door facing and seal completely with tape.
Bleach is YOUR BEST FRIEND. Forget those fancy cleaners and use 1 part bleach to 2 parts water. This is and was the CDC recommendations for all Healthcare facilities for HIV. We KNOW,this works. You can put in spray bottles, labs, buckets used for toilet, and a must if doing laundry.
CDC website has lots of good information. The above have been used to care for sick or comprised patients during/after hurricanes.
Moo...
Cheers!
