When there is an essential employee living in your household

[mdurette]

This one has been on my mind for a bit now. Massachusetts has finally given a weak "only essential businesses can open there doors directive today". (but liquor stores and take out food still ok). I digress....

Both hubby and I are considered essential employees. I can work at home, but he needs to go out an deal with the public. I have been trying my best to keep our home free from Covid-19 and to be honest, I'm pretty darn proud of what I have accomplished.

He is on vacation time now because we were going to be away....but next week, he will be back to work. I admit I feel 100% insane that I have thoughts about getting him a room at a local hotel until this blows over. That I want him to strip in the garage before comes into the house and then go straight to the shower. I want to keep our home the safe haven, but I can't do that if someone has to go out and deal with the public.

Yesterday he was doing yard work and I joked, if you put that ax into your shin you won't have to go to work. It was a joke, but on some level it wasn't.

I'm looking for guidelines online for what you should do when you return home if you have to go out, I'm coming up empty handed.

In the end.....I trust my husband to do his best, but the reality is his best and my best are on different ends of the scale.

So, for those of you that have to work or live with someone that has to work outside of the house, what are your protocol's for reentry into the house? Now are you dealing with it?

PS: I'm actually chuckling as a reread before I posted because even I can admit that this is over the top crazy. But, it is what I am feeling...……...

 

[TravelTime]

I have read about what healthcare workers are doing. Many are doing what you said. They are stripping in the garage, separating their clothes and going straight to the shower. The main risk is if he actually gets it. The good news is the percentage of the population that have it now is still quite small and very few are actually seriously ill. I guess the best advice is to do your best to stay safe but try not to let the stress, anxiety and worry make you sick.

 

[am1]

Places should be provided for these workers to stay.

 

[VacationForever]

We stopped venturing out of the home other than to golf several times a week. Each time when I get home, I take off my clothes and put them in the washing machine and head straight into the shower. Since I wash my hair everyday, I am entirely clean from head to foot when I come out from the shower. My husband does not do the same and he will sit around half a day or so before heading into the shower. Since we are not really at risk from catching COVID-19 as for most part people are usually 6 ft or more away. Sometimes someone would come straight up to your face to talk before you realize it. I don't try to change my husband's routine unless I am worried that we have been exposed to someone who may have COVID-19.

Is your husband going to be close up to others? Is he going to be touching alot of the "common" surfaces? You will need to figure out from there as to how clean he needs to be when he enters the house.

 

[slip]

I am still working and my wife is retired. I come home and change and wash right away. My wife has only gone grocery shopping with me and goes to her doctors appointments.


My wife and I are of the same mindset, We try to reduce risk as much as possible. Besides work and grocery shopping I have only gone out for takeout a few times on the weekend. No other trips. There’s only so much you can do.

 

[turkel]

I am a labor and delivery nurse we have PUI (person under investigation ) in the hospital but not yet in our department. We are limiting visitors to 1 who must stay, no in and out privileges . We don’t wear masks unless we might have contact with bodily fluids. I go to work in street clothes then change into scrubs at the beginning of the shift and back into my clothes at the end.
When I go home it’s business as usual. Undress get into bed and hope I can fall asleep before 2 am.
I wash my hands a zillion times a day weather I am home or at work. I am very sensitive when it comes to my hands. Maybe even OCD. If I touch anything I feel the need to wash my hands because they “feel” dirty.
Really though I am not changing my habits. I am not fearful or fearless. Just good hygiene and follow the SIP orders. I go to work then home. I only left my house twice in my 6 day stretch off. Today is my last work day. I do 8 on 6 off. I will be driving to SoCal tomorrow with my spouse to check on daughter and to make sure my 78 yo mother gets more toilet paper and run any errands she may need completed. We won’t be visiting friends but sticking close to home unless needed .

Try not to worry. Good hand hygiene. A kind word and a smile when your husband comes home.

Be well.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

DS3, who lives with us, works in package handling for UPS. So he is "essential". Fortunately not involved in direct public contact.

We have established some degrees of separation inside the house. He has his areas in the house that are largely his. We minimize contact. He's also extremely fastidious, not quite OCD, but not that distant.

I also figure that almost everyone in the world is going to be exposed; it's only a question of when. Our current strategies are not intended to contain and isolate the virus. The goal is simply to slow down the rate at which it spreads. The virus is still going to move, and, inevitably, those "essential" workers are going to be one of the primary avenues by which it moves (though secondary to the people who don't follow isolation protocols).

We are doing our part to slow the spread, but I don't delude myself into thinking we will come out the other side not having been infected. And he's the most likely avenue through which the virus will arrive in our household.

 

[Beachclubmum]

Germs in the kitchen and food prep area bother me most, so I have 4 separate towels at the kitchen sink, each one placed into a plastic food storage container and labeled with the name of each person living here. The faucet is touch activated (anywhere, not just the handle) and after washing each person uses his own towel. No signs of sickness at this time; if there were that person would be banned to his own bedroom.

 

[bbodb1]

@mdurette - I suggest you have some unexplored fantasies about your garage you may get to explore!

Remember the Reader's Digest section / adage:
Laughter is the best medicine!

 

[easyrider]

Yes, I am the essential one. Currently, I only work on emergencies such as plumbing or electrical concerns. I try to stay 6 ft away from others and I wash my hands when I get home.

Eventually the herd immunity will kick in after 60% of the population catches c-19. I read this should occur in about 12 - 18 months. So don't worry too much. The odds of death from c-19 are about 1 in a half million. The odds of death while driving a car is 1 in 77.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615375/what-is-herd-immunity-and-can-it-stop-the-coronavirus/

Bill

 

[pedro47]

The words essential employee in my opinions have change with the coronavirus. Before this essential employees reported to work when there was a natural disaster liked a hurricane, a flood, or an earthquake. Grocery stores, schools and most retail stores were closed. Essential employees were the emergency respond teams of high level management, of the state, the city and the local police departments, the local fire department, specialize hospital personnel doctors and nurses.

Essential employees were on called 24/7 until the disaster was over
Essential employees had to set up shelters and man them.

Today’s essential employees with the coronavirus are all police & fire employees all hospital employees, grocery stores employees, pharmacy employees, hardware store employees, restaurants takeout employee, etc.,

 

[mdurette]

Today’s essential employees with the coronavirus are all police & fire employees all hospital employees, grocery stores employees, pharmacy employees, hardware store employees, restaurants takeout employee, etc.,

I got my essential employee letter yesterday from my employer as someone that works in the financial services industry. I at least can do my job from home.

 

[mdurette]

@mdurette - I suggest you have some unexplored fantasies about your garage you may get to explore!

Remember the Reader's Digest section / adage:
Laughter is the best medicine!

Ha Ha Ha - just the opposite, I'm using the social distancing excuse to avoid that too!