Coronavirus and Chinese au pairs

[Anonymous]

Is anyone else concerned about the risk of Chinese au pairs arriving here for training unknowingly infected with the new coronavirus? Are they being tested or quarantined or anything? My new au pair arrives next week (not from China). Both my au pair and every member of my family have pre-existing conditions that would make this virus especially dangerous for us-- so I really don't want her getting infected during training!

[Anonymous]

Cultural care at least has stopped all arrivals from China for now. I expect most of the agencies have done the same.

[Anonymous]

Your Au Pair could get infected during the plane but then anybody else around you could be infected by anyone who has been in contact with anyone traveling from china (or elsewhere!) with the virus.

There are cases of Coronavirus in quite a lot of places now so just worrying about people from China is a bit limiting.

In any case, you won't be able to put bubble wrap on your AP nor your entire family so you are just going to have to take the risk, the risk being extremely minimal as it is.

I was at a restaurant chain filled with Chinese tourists the other day, I had a minute of ''should I leave?'' (have a baby at home) then gave my head a wobble because avoiding an entire ethnicity because they might ''contaminate me'' felt a bit too 1940's for me and just awful.

I think taking the natural precautions is more than enough, ultimately if I get it, I get it, I can't shelter myself at home and avoid every person I see in case they have been in contact with it.

Everytime you step outside you might cross path with someone who just came back from China or whose Chinese parents-in-law were just visiting from China, unless you think of locking yourself and all your love ones inside with gas masks, I would try not to over worry about something that is statistically unlikely to happen.

[Anonymous]

I would be more worried about host families that don't get basic vaccines than a Chinese Au Pair.