Close contact - how long these days before you are in the clear?

Supercell

So my wife was out with friends two nights ago , all hugs and kisses goodbye... One of them messaged her last night to say she is feeling ill and testing positive.

We all had it last November so are hoping we still have some immunity in our systems, how long should it be before she can consider herself in the clear?

DLink

Close contact isn't a thing any more, carry on as you would have done before covid...........

odyssey06

The median incubation period for Omicron is 3-4 days according to CDC research. That's the median so it is possible for it to kick in later than that.

Suggest getting in a few antigen tests if you have not already got some.

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/what-is-incubation-period-omicron-covid-19

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/clinical-considerations-presentation.html#:~:text=A%20study%20conducted%20during%20high,period%20of%203%E2%80%934%20days.

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305032#Comment_120305032

Thanks, sounds like sensible advice. She is a healthcare worker in a care home so its not just her health she is concerned about.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120304763#Comment_120304763

Until you show symptoms.

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305284#Comment_120305284

But all legal restrictions have been removed. You can be blue in the face with covid and you still don't need to do anything.

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305481#Comment_120305481

No, she works in a care home, maybe you missed that.

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305536#Comment_120305536

So as long as she works in a care home she should never socialise again?

i know lots of healthcare workers that socialise. It’s great that they do.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305421#Comment_120305421

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/3361b-public-health-updates/#

You are still required to isolate if you have symptoms.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305632#Comment_120305632

I dont think the OP had or has a problem with their wife socialising. They are just asking a simple question as to how long they should be on the watch out for because of the nature of their work

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306389#Comment_120306389

Ah right, but why go into so much detail on how she became a close contact? The post sounds like shaming to me, sure who knows i might be wrong .

miamee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306421#Comment_120306421

I think they were just illustrating that the wife was in very close contact with her friend who now has Covid so the chance of catching it is maybe stronger than if they just waved hello.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306421#Comment_120306421

agreed, those days are gone, you could pick Covid up anywhere. Nobody tests anymore. I was sick with a respiratory bug 2 weeks ago, no temperature, no aches but fairly dosed. Why would I get a test, Covid is a distant memory now??? I just do as I did long before, take a few Lemsips, early nights, Vitamin D and Vitamin C.......

Micky 32

”I think they were just illustrating that the “”wife was in very close contact with her friend””

…and that’s all the info that’s needed in my opinion.

Anyway to answer the OP question here is my experience. My father wakes up on a Thursday feeling a bit off and tests positive. I’m a close contact. I get symptoms on Sunday afternoon. My partner is exposed to me on the Sunday and she begins symptoms on Wednesday. So about 3 ish days.

Don’t depend too much on Antigen tests. I felt totally fine the Sunday morning. I did a test as a courtesy to my partner before i went to her house. I tested negative. That afternoon i started feeling caught at the back of my throat. I went home to do a test. The second line emerged faintly. My partner still caught it from me. I was only about 2-3 hours in her company and had tested negative that morning.

CalamariFritti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306366#Comment_120306366

Are you sure you didn't confuse 'required' with 'advised'?

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120306366#Comment_120306366

The HSE "requirements" are only guidelines. What are the penalties for noncompliance with these HSE requirements?

This is another case of the government fudging things and making out that it's a legal requirement when it isn't.

A mask isn't a legal requirement when you visit a doctor, hospital, pharmacy, etc, again, they're just guidelines dressed as requirements but with no penalties for noncompliance.

All the emergency covid laws have expired and vanished from the statue books, and with them so did the legal requirement to isolate.

Feel free to prove otherwise, but it has to be a proper legal requirement with actual legal penalties & consequences for noncompliance, and not just a HSE "requirement" that in fact is only a guideline.

Report someone to the Blue Beach Dancers (aka the Gardai) for breaking the HSE covid isolation requirements or for not wearing a mask in a doctor's surgery and see what their response is.

DLink

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/aac74c-guidance-on-safe-use-of-face-coverings/#

Just an example regarding the face mask in healthcare guidelines, they're "advice" now, not mandatory.

With effect from Monday 28 February 2022, the mandatory requirement to wear masks has been removed. The public health advice remains that masks should continue to be worn on public transport and in healthcare settings.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307508#Comment_120307508

Just because there's no legal requirement anymore, doesn't mean you can go around spreading whatever you think you have. Nobody wants what you have.

Employers still have a legal requirement for the health and safety towards their employees and people on their premises. Nobody goes to work to get hurt or have an accident. So why is it ok to spread whatever you have?

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120309731#Comment_120309731

You've become too used to having the law protect you from someone with a cough or a sniffle, everything has rightfully reset back to the way it was before the pandemic.... take your chances.

No one cared if you pick up a cold or flu at work before the pandemic, now covid can be added to that list.

Yes, it's still a buzzword that some people like to make a bit of a deal about, but like the cold and flu it's most likely not going to kill you.

Yeah, you'll feel miserable for a few days, but you also get to paid to stay at home for a few days and watch Netflix.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305421#Comment_120305421

If you had AIDS would you continue to ride around you? You don't need the law to tell you to do the right thing...

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120310210#Comment_120310210

I'm happily married I'll have you know, therefore I don't ride around.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120309731#Comment_120309731

Because that's how human immune systems work.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120309731#Comment_120309731

You're arguing with people that have very little empathy, and think they know more about public health than the qualified, experienced experts that have dedicated their lives to the subject.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120310264#Comment_120310264

...strange comment given the OP's wife's occupation .? The point is that she is in healthcare for older people , not just some young healthy person with a good immune system who doesn't have to think of anyone else.

There is such a thing as professional responsibility for some occupations .

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120323420#Comment_120323420

You would think that someone who works in healthcare would know the craic at this stage.

Don't Chute!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120323187#Comment_120323187

The world has returned to pre Covid thinking. Whether you like it or not. This thing some posters here have of trying to retrospectively apply Covid rules to what we did before has to stop. It just shows what huge psychological damage has been done to some people by the constant hysterical scaremongering.

WaterWipes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120332987#Comment_120332987

And what did she do before covid? I highly doubt she even gave it a second thought, same as the rest of us.

As StarMix66 said earlier, you've become too used to the law protecting you from someone else's cough or sniffle.

Feel free to join the rest of us in the pre-covid thinking world.

Don't Chute!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120332987#Comment_120332987

I really don’t think you understand what I am saying. Whether that is genuine or willful I’m not sure. As has been said a thousand times on these threads if someone wants to wear a mask they can. Just stop trying to force everyone else to. Also stop trying to apply Covid rules to what we did before it simply wasn’t like that and you know it.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120332393#Comment_120332393

You can try to bury your head in the sand and claim everyone else is hysterical, but it does not change the fact that we are now living with a virus that is far more virulent than the flu and unfortunately it is not going away. The world changes, people respond to those changes and act accordingly, this means taking some minor precautions like trying not to spread a virus in a care home.

You can pretend Covid does not exist, never happened, whatever.....the reality is it happened, it is here to stay and some changes are required in how we behave as a result. Your 'pre-covid' world is in the past, it is history.

pc7

If she works in a care home then they should give her guidance on what to do, other than that is most every other job its don't come to work sick

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120333883#Comment_120333883

Have you actually stuck your head outside since covid began? “Your pre covid world is in the past, it is history” a rubbish statement.

My pre covid world and for many more isn’t history. We can do all the things like it was 2019. Pubs, restaurants, concerts , stadiums etc all full again.

Not to mention airports are very busy. i have flown transatlantic about 6 times in the past year. Life couldn’t be better or more normal to be honest. Oh , at Dublin airport i probably witnessed about 2/3 people wearing masks.

Life has moved on for the people who didn’t get mentally scarred by all the scaremongering.

Don't Chute!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120333997#Comment_120333997

I was going to reply to that post but you've pretty much said enough here.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120333997#Comment_120333997

Thanks for the long boring list of things to do, let me know where I said any of that was not possible.

I said due to the fact that Covid is here to stay, we need to change certain behaviors, like exposing people in care homes. Covid happened in 2020, before that was pre-covid, we are now in the present where certain measures are still needed to protect the vulnerable, measures that were not needed to the same extent pre-covid.

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334355#Comment_120334355

Very small precautions are needed for care homes, most are vaccinated too. Your posts come across as dramatic hyperbole “ heads buried in sand” “ pre covid world is history” . Those two statements are complete rubbish.

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334355#Comment_120334355

The vulnerable were well able to protect themselves before covid, let them do it again post covid. They got spoiled with all the lockdowns and restrictions during covid, but that's a thing of the past now.

Things are back to normal for over a year now and the world still hasn't fallen apart, why do you insist on pushing your fears or concerns on the rest of us who have gotten back to normal?

covid is with us forever now, it's background noise for most, just another illness that gets us a few days off work on sick leave. Yes, it can kill some people, but so can the cold, flu, etc, and you didn't have lockdowns, masks or restrictions for those illnesses.

If it wasn't for government running stupid adverts, people panicking on social media or unions shouting on mass media, we wouldn't notice a thing about it.

Care homes had mass deaths due to flu before and no one batted an eyelid, but change flu to covid and everyone has a melt down!

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334642#Comment_120334642

"Very small precautions are needed for care homes," yeah I agree, yet people on this thread are getting mad because the original poster is trying to do exactly that. It seems like they want to just ignore the fact that the world has changed, there is now a virulent virus in circulation and certain precautions are needed.

Also, if you are going to quote me the least you could do is use the actual quote, dont write your own and put in quotations, it makes you look deceitful.

Here are some of my actual quotes, where is the dramatic hyperbole?

"we need to change certain behaviors, like exposing people in care homes" "this means taking some minor precautions like trying not to spread a virus in a care home" "we need to change certain behaviors"

I'm struggling to see the dramatic hyperbole.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334698#Comment_120334698

So much nonsense in such a short post!

They got spoiled with all the lockdowns and restrictions during covid

Fsck the vulnerable right?

why do you insist on pushing your fears or concerns on the rest of us who have gotten back to normal?

I'm actually arguing against the people that think they know better than the medical health experts. Normal has changed, not by very much for the vast majority but the stubborn few who mock even the slightest change need to be challenged. Normal is now more precautions for the vulnerable then we had pre-Covid. Why do you insist on ignoring that?

covid is with us forever now, it's background noise for most, just another illness that gets us a few days off work on sick leave. Yes, it can kill some people, but so can the cold, flu, etc, and you didn't have lockdowns, masks or restrictions for those illnesses

Two points here, Covid is much more virulent that the flu or a cold so some things have had to change to address that. Who is talking about lockdowns? this thread is about taking precautions if working a care home. Why are you going on about lockdowns for flu or colds? Nonsense

If it wasn't for government running stupid adverts, people panicking on social media or unions shouting on mass media, we wouldn't notice a thing about it.

You probably would not, but that is probably because you are not directly impacted, many people are impacted. The government adverts are an attempt to reach people like you who lack awareness.

Care homes had mass deaths due to flu before and no one batted an eyelid, but change flu to covid and everyone has a melt down!

Complete horsesh1t! there have been precautions taken for years (decades) whenever there is a virulent outbreak. People have 'batted an eyelid' when mass deaths happened, you have not got a clue.

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335065#Comment_120335065

Prevention of spread in care homes is up to the care homes themselves whatever precautions they see fit. But to say pre covid times is history is hyperbole because care homes aside life is back to normal out there.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335466#Comment_120335466

Care-homes, other health care settings, vaccine boosters...all things that are probably here to stay, were not here pre-covid (before 2020). I am saying pre-covid is the past, we are now in the present, you seem to think I am implying we must live like we did during the worst of Covid? I am not saying that. I am saying that the world has changed, not by that much for most people as I have pointed out. How you are getting hyperbole from that I do not know.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335820#Comment_120335820

Post number 39 in this thread https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335228/#Comment_120335228, about an hour and a half ago you said I was talking nonsense. But you can't seem to back that up at all, feels like you don't like what I said so you resorted to a smiley-face because you don't have a valid argument?

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335857#Comment_120335857

I'm not too bothered about discussing anything with you if I'm honest, I don't care for any argument you may post.

You're too pro-restrictions* for my liking, and I suspect that I'm too free and easy for your liking, so there's no middle ground as it were, we'll just go around in circles.

I want every vestige of covid erased from life, just like it has been removed from the statute books. I'll never, ever, see your point of view on covid, masks, etc., no matter how many stats you present.

I posted in this thread to let the OP that there was no longer such a thing as a "close contact", simple as that.

*restrictions are anything that the government introduced in response to the pandemic, things that didn't exist in 2019.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120333328#Comment_120333328

Eh, masks?

This thread isn't even about masks. I don't think you understand.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335985#Comment_120335985

Not too bothered to discuss it but bothered enough to make your powerful smiley-face responses, lame.

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120336159#Comment_120336159

Whatever it takes the stir the pot.

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120348521#Comment_120348521

Scam text.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120348521#Comment_120348521

they want you to order a test kit and pay by credit card while you're at it. Scam!