COVID risk if caregiver spent 3 hours in ER

[Anonymous]

Our nanny spent 3 hours in the ER with an ill family member. The family member tested negative for COVID (multiple tests over a week while hospitalized). Nanny asked if she should self-quarantine because of potential exposure from other patients in the ER. I think she's fine to come back to work--she was masked the entire time she was in the ER, and my guess is that they seclude anyone suspected of having COVID very quickly. That said, if she spent 3 hours at a bar, I wouldn't want her to come to work. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I think it's a personal choice. She did the right thing by telling you, which means she is trustworthy.

If I were you I would go with your gut instinct.

[Anonymous]

What was her experience like in the ER. Was it busy? Did she have to spend time in a crowded waiting room? Does the ER have beds with curtains or was the person seen in a more enclosed area? I assume everyone was wearing masks.

I would get a little more information from her.

[Anonymous]

JFC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny spent 3 hours in the ER with an ill family member. The family member tested negative for COVID (multiple tests over a week while hospitalized). Nanny asked if she should self-quarantine because of potential exposure from other patients in the ER. I think she's fine to come back to work--she was masked the entire time she was in the ER, and my guess is that they seclude anyone suspected of having COVID very quickly. That said, if she spent 3 hours at a bar, I wouldn't want her to come to work. Thoughts?

So, I was completely on-board with everything you said until this line. I highly, highly doubt there's actually much of a difference in risk between 3 hours in an ER and 3 hours in a bar. So I tend to think you're letting your own ideas of appropriate behavior color your perception of risk in an irrational way.

But I don't know if that's leading you to underestimate the risk of an ER, or to overestimate the risk of a bar.

[Anonymous]

We had a similar situation. My understanding is that the risk of COVID was very small BECAUSE people are wearing masks, practicing certain protocol in a strict sense. That is v different than what you might see in a bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation. My understanding is that the risk of COVID was very small BECAUSE people are wearing masks, practicing certain protocol in a strict sense. That is v different than what you might see in a bar.

It's funny that you think sick, elderly people are more compliant with masks than drunk young people. They're not. They think they need to pull down the masks to talk, which is obviously the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny spent 3 hours in the ER with an ill family member. The family member tested negative for COVID (multiple tests over a week while hospitalized). Nanny asked if she should self-quarantine because of potential exposure from other patients in the ER. I think she's fine to come back to work--she was masked the entire time she was in the ER, and my guess is that they seclude anyone suspected of having COVID very quickly. That said, if she spent 3 hours at a bar, I wouldn't want her to come to work. Thoughts?

So, I was completely on-board with everything you said until this line. I highly, highly doubt there's actually much of a difference in risk between 3 hours in an ER and 3 hours in a bar. So I tend to think you're letting your own ideas of appropriate behavior color your perception of risk in an irrational way.

But I don't know if that's leading you to underestimate the risk of an ER, or to overestimate the risk of a bar.

So you think three hours in a place where almost everyone is unmasked versus three hours in a place where everyone is masked are the same? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny spent 3 hours in the ER with an ill family member. The family member tested negative for COVID (multiple tests over a week while hospitalized). Nanny asked if she should self-quarantine because of potential exposure from other patients in the ER. I think she's fine to come back to work--she was masked the entire time she was in the ER, and my guess is that they seclude anyone suspected of having COVID very quickly. That said, if she spent 3 hours at a bar, I wouldn't want her to come to work. Thoughts?

As someone who has dealt with her children being exposed to a known positive COVID case and her nanny being exposed to a known positive COVID case, I feel like I've been through this quite a bit in the last few months.

If you want my opinion, she doesn't need to quarantine unless she knows someone in the ER that she was close to for more than 15 minutes was positive for COVID. However, if you want her to because the thought of worrying if your kid wakes up one morning with a runny nose, and if you can survive without your nanny for two weeks, then go ahead and have her do it (and pay her).

I hear you on the bar issue, although I'll say that that says more about her character and other choices, which is why it would bother me. From an exposure standpoint I do think the bar is riskier, but again, unless she was in contact with a known positive COVID case, she wouldn't need to quarantine.

[Anonymous]

I had to spend hours in the ER with my child when he fractured his elbow. We were never close to anyone the entire time. Everyone was masked. The people who were screened with a temp were removed elsewhere.

Not even close to people without masks shouting at each other in a crowded bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation. My understanding is that the risk of COVID was very small BECAUSE people are wearing masks, practicing certain protocol in a strict sense. That is v different than what you might see in a bar.

It's funny that you think sick, elderly people are more compliant with masks than drunk young people. They're not. They think they need to pull down the masks to talk, which is obviously the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

OMG - why do they all do this? I see this all the time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny spent 3 hours in the ER with an ill family member. The family member tested negative for COVID (multiple tests over a week while hospitalized). Nanny asked if she should self-quarantine because of potential exposure from other patients in the ER. I think she's fine to come back to work--she was masked the entire time she was in the ER, and my guess is that they seclude anyone suspected of having COVID very quickly. That said, if she spent 3 hours at a bar, I wouldn't want her to come to work. Thoughts?

As someone who has dealt with her children being exposed to a known positive COVID case and her nanny being exposed to a known positive COVID case, I feel like I've been through this quite a bit in the last few months.

If you want my opinion, she doesn't need to quarantine unless she knows someone in the ER that she was close to for more than 15 minutes was positive for COVID. However, if you want her to because the thought of worrying if your kid wakes up one morning with a runny nose, and if you can survive without your nanny for two weeks, then go ahead and have her do it (and pay her).

I hear you on the bar issue, although I'll say that that says more about her character and other choices, which is why it would bother me. From an exposure standpoint I do think the bar is riskier, but again, unless she was in contact with a known positive COVID case, she wouldn't need to quarantine.

1) To the bolded-- how in the world would she know for sure if she was?

2) That 15 minutes/indoors is not only not a guarantee, but not even close to one. It's for contact tracing, because it would be WAY harder to contact trace if you had to consider everyone you might have spent <15 minutes with.

3) OP, if you would have her quarantine in a bar, you should have her quarantine now (I would in either case). A bar might mean more masks, but by definition, it should mean fewer sick people, including people *actively ill* with COVID (coughing, etc.)-- either in the ER or who were recently in there. Or healthcare workers who are presymptomatic or whatever.

Doing the right thing can be inconvenient-- I recently canceled something I was looking forward to for what turned out to be allergies. But it's what we do to prevent further spread, and for peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation. My understanding is that the risk of COVID was very small BECAUSE people are wearing masks, practicing certain protocol in a strict sense. That is v different than what you might see in a bar.

It's funny that you think sick, elderly people are more compliant with masks than drunk young people. They're not. They think they need to pull down the masks to talk, which is obviously the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

Well, in our case, it was our child who was dying 4 months ago, and she was in a pediatric ward.

(Example of how being mean to people is really not useful, you never know what they are going through).

That said, in that particular hospital all the patients were in private rooms and the doctors were the ones going between rooms, wearing masks and taking precautions.

It's counter -intuitive that it would be a (relatively) safe place to be - relatively being "safer than you think" - but I'm offering our experience, as painful as it was/is, in case it helps others.

[Anonymous]

I was in the Er for a few hours in September. Everyone was wearing masks. I was wearing a mask. It was fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation. My understanding is that the risk of COVID was very small BECAUSE people are wearing masks, practicing certain protocol in a strict sense. That is v different than what you might see in a bar.

It's funny that you think sick, elderly people are more compliant with masks than drunk young people. They're not. They think they need to pull down the masks to talk, which is obviously the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

OMG - why do they all do this? I see this all the time!

I saw someone at the grocery store the other day pull their mask down to peer at an item on the shelf, almost like the mask was sunglasses?!?