Au Pair tested positive for COVID

[Anonymous]

Our Au Pair had a positive COVId test yesterday!

Has anyone quarantined a positive Au pair in their house? How did you keep your kids / family safe?

She will miss 11 working days through her quarantine. How have you handled those days off? She’s already had about a week and a half for vacation. The remaining vacation days are my choice (she choose the dates for the first 7 days), so I wonder if I should use the remaining 3 vacation days as part of her quarantine time. She would still get upcoming Holidays, etc off above and beyond her actual vacation (about 4 additional days for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, etc)

What would you guys do? I want to be fair, but am also screwed by having to take two unexpected weeks off of work to watch the kids (I know that’s my job as the parent just highlighting what I had to do).

[Anonymous]

Are you even serious? Vacation time is for vacation. Not for her being stuck in her room bc of global pandemic. People get covid all the time and not always their own fault

[Anonymous]

I would let her be sick and hope she recovers.

It’s a new concept that maybe has not made it to your part of the world called compassion.

[Anonymous]

Is she symptomatic or asymptotic? If symptomatic, know that the most contagious period is the two days before you start showing symptoms, so you are already all highly exposed. My sister just went through this with her husband and kids. They passed it to four friends they saw the day before having symptoms.

If she is sick, let her be sick. Unless she has a serious case, she will not be sick for the whole 10 day quarantine. Take a week off and reassess how she is feeling for the second week. You are all close contacts so you have to stay home anyway and the kids have to stay out of school.

If she is asymptotic, just have her work. She can watch the kids while they all quarantine.

[Anonymous]

Did she catch it from your family? Has your family tested yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our Au Pair had a positive COVId test yesterday!

Has anyone quarantined a positive Au pair in their house? How did you keep your kids / family safe?

She will miss 11 working days through her quarantine. How have you handled those days off? She’s already had about a week and a half for vacation. The remaining vacation days are my choice (she choose the dates for the first 7 days), so I wonder if I should use the remaining 3 vacation days as part of her quarantine time. She would still get upcoming Holidays, etc off above and beyond her actual vacation (about 4 additional days for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, etc)

What would you guys do? I want to be fair, but am also screwed by having to take two unexpected weeks off of work to watch the kids (I know that’s my job as the parent just highlighting what I had to do).

You're kidding, right?

[Anonymous]

Consider waiting about 3-4 days before making any decisions since odds are, she's not the only one in the house that will test positive.

[Anonymous]

She got sick going to Myrtle Beach with friends.

Yes I’m pretty serious re: my consideration of using her vacation but wanted to see what other HF’s are doing. Her year ends in April, and she will already have additional vacation days over the Holidays. With the quarantine plus Holiday time, total vacation will now be about 5 weeks. I also don’t really want to encourage another long vacation where she’ll be hanging out with friends and bring COVId back to the house again. This has been a very very stressful time for our family (my kids are under 6 / too young to be vaccinated).

[Anonymous]

Was she vaccinated? If so, she might not recover quicker than expected. If she’s recovered, even if still during her quarantine, I’d have her work if she’s not contagious anymore. I totally feel you on the frustration as a working mom when your childcare cannot work. It’s one of the most stressful parts of parenting for me. Ultimately I don’t think I’d count this against her vacation time as sickness happens. At the same time, I’d be interested in how she handles this. Sickness happens but there should be give and take. Maybe she pitches in a little more around the house when she’s recovered since you had to pull all the weight while she was sick, etc etc

[Anonymous]

You need to talk to her about it, but yes, I'd expect her to use leave if she cannot provide child care after getting covid from a vacation.

[Anonymous]

If you want to push her into rematch, sure, use her remaining 3 vacation days while she is in quarantine.

[Anonymous]

Her quarantine will give her amazing free time to talk to new potential families. Go for it

[Anonymous]

We have taken great care of her while she’s been sick (fever, chills, nausea and more. This has put my kids at great risk, but of course we want to help while she’s sick. Yes she’s vaccinated but got really sick during her quarantine.

If she wants to look for another family that is her prerogative. We’ve hosted several Au pairs and are a genuine family, but she brought this back to our house because she wanted to party on the beach. It will be hard to take nearly an additional week on top of the unexpected additional two weeks that I’ve had to take for her quarantine (plus the other 4 days that she’s getting off over the Holidays).

I talked to my LCC and am going to take two days of the vacation, so she’ll have 5 days over the next few months (Holidays + vacation day) which will still amount to 4 1/2 weeks off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have taken great care of her while she’s been sick (fever, chills, nausea and more. This has put my kids at great risk, but of course we want to help while she’s sick. Yes she’s vaccinated but got really sick during her quarantine.

If she wants to look for another family that is her prerogative. We’ve hosted several Au pairs and are a genuine family, but she brought this back to our house because she wanted to party on the beach. It will be hard to take nearly an additional week on top of the unexpected additional two weeks that I’ve had to take for her quarantine (plus the other 4 days that she’s getting off over the Holidays).

I talked to my LCC and am going to take two days of the vacation, so she’ll have 5 days over the next few months (Holidays + vacation day) which will still amount to 4 1/2 weeks off.

Go for it. She chose to go to myrtle beach and I'm sure it was explained ahead of time what the risks were and the implications of catching COVID were for vacation/isolation. It was really selfish for her to go when you have kids under 12. Frankly, we would not have permitted it, but our kids are higher risk. Let her find another family at this point if that's where she wants to go. It is not worth bending over backwards anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have taken great care of her while she’s been sick (fever, chills, nausea and more. This has put my kids at great risk, but of course we want to help while she’s sick. Yes she’s vaccinated but got really sick during her quarantine.

If she wants to look for another family that is her prerogative. We’ve hosted several Au pairs and are a genuine family, but she brought this back to our house because she wanted to party on the beach. It will be hard to take nearly an additional week on top of the unexpected additional two weeks that I’ve had to take for her quarantine (plus the other 4 days that she’s getting off over the Holidays).

I talked to my LCC and am going to take two days of the vacation, so she’ll have 5 days over the next few months (Holidays + vacation day) which will still amount to 4 1/2 weeks off.

I think this is the best approach, by talking with the LCC.

Not all host parents have unlimited time off, so you have to balance your work obligations with her time off.