What back up plans are you considering to isolate from your elderly in home loved one if you get Corona virus?

I have been sick with colds and flu without infecting my mother who lives with me. Our bedrooms are in separate ends of the house and we each have our own bathroom, so basically I "isolate" each of us in our room. I have HEPA filters and ionizers running in each bedroom and one in the common/open kitchen/living/dining area. I purchased the filters due to my asthma for air particles and smells but I understand they also help with airborne viruses. The baby monitor's intercom feature is very important to allow me to talk with Mom while not being in the same room.

When I'm ill and I leave my bedroom, I first wash my hands, forearms, and face really well and then put a cover-up over my clothes. I have several loose dresses, robes, and beach cover-ups available to throw over my clothing. If I cough or sneeze while out of the bedroom, I lift my clothing neckline and put my entire face under my clothing while bending my neck as far down as possible and turning away from areas I really wish to protect like kitchen counters. Then I clean my hands and forearms again with sanitizer, making sure under and around the nail beds get extra attention. Sometimes I go change clothes and start over. If I'm in Mom's room when I feel a cough coming on, I step into the hall and try to get as far from her room as I can.

When helping Mom I try not to even touch things she needs to touch unless I have just finished cleaning my hands. If I need to move the walker I use the structural support bars and not the hand grips or top rails Mom uses. I disinfect surfaces I have touched before retreating back to my room.

I have stocked up on frozen meals, frozen fruit, cereal, popsicles, canned soup and frozen homemade soups I so I don't have to actually cook if I'm ill. Walmart has grocery delivery and my nephew and his wife live next door and could be counted on to bring us anything we need. My niece-in-law is in her 40s with no underlying health conditions and would care for my mother if needed. I'm lucky that Mom's minimal care requirements would be providing food and drink, helping her get up and resettled for bathroom trips and washing her bottom and changing her incontinence panty 2-3 times a day (she pees most of the time when sleeping now). Unless I get deathly sick, I should be able to keep things going. My usual backup (Mom's younger sister) is 70 with diabetes and I do not feel I can ask for her help with covid-19. Area ALs/MCs/NHs are not accepting new residents or any visitors except those approved by the DON. There is some planning on setting up an isolation area where potential new residents would stay for 30 days before moving into a LTC facility being discussed.

We have a couple of confirmed cases in my area from international travelers but no community spread yet. Right now I plan on sending Mom to ADC for another week or until community spread begins or the NASCAR race crowd comes to town. Then we are going to stay home alone until at least the weather lifts. I see lots of afternoons watching old movies in our future...

We are already on voluntary personal lockdown. No one in or out. If I am the one that gets sick then it's going to be a problem since I have to take care of the 3 of them. If one of them gets sick they are in their own rooms so are already isolated. I would probably turn off the central heating and switch to in room heaters.

In the past when I've had colds, I wear a mask 24/7, except in the shower, and gloves when caregiving. Not once have I passed on a cold to any of them.

Well I work for a major hospital, and mom has already informed me that if we get it, it will be because I "brought it home".. She is a retired RN so she knows what I signed up for up when I took this job. She is almost 90.. already not wanting to leave the house. We did get her out for a lunch today,, no cases in our area.. and I practice all the recommendations of our hospital. I guess I feel like "it is what it is" I could bring home anything , I am exposed to lots of things,, but so far none of it has followed me home. We also live in the "middle of nowhere".. with a vacation home in the "middle of nowhere", so we are just going to keep her home from now on for her peace of mind. One of my friends told her mom "living in a box is no way to live".. My mom is ready to go, but I;m hoping to keep her around a bit longer.

My daughter just called me very upset. We are upset too. Apparently, Louisiana State University will not have a graduation ceremony. 😞

They are mailing out diplomas. All this time in school and she will have no official ceremony to remember.

Of course, public safety comes first but she is sad. So are we. I don’t get to hear my daughter’s name called or see her in her cap and gown.

I’m bummed out today.

I am the full-time caregiver for my bed bound Loved One (LO). I know a cold is a lot less extreme than the Coronavirus. But, the time I caught a cold, I had to take care of her before it went away. The round-the-clock RNs weren't doing a decent job and were wildly expensive. With a little luck and some help from the Lord, my LO did not catch my cold. Here is what I did: I set up a mask and glove station right outside her bedroom. Because of the setup, I couldn't forget to mask and glove up before entering her room. That station also included a trash container. Everytime I went into her bedroom, I put on a mask and gloves. I tossed the mask every day and the gloves every time I used them. Then, I washed my hands over and over and over with hot, soapy water.

This is a very good question. Does your doctor or social worker have any advice? If she were to catch covid-19, the hospital may not even take her unless she has life-threatening illness. We are in uncharted territory now, and are all learning as we go along.

By the time you know that you have coronavirus, you have already been contagious for at least 5 days. That's the problem. I don't think there is a lot you can do about that except take the recommended steps to avoid your own exposure to coronavirus and be really, really good about following the protocols (hand washing, gloves, ect..) when caring for your mom.

It's good to set up a plan for her care if you and your husband both are unavailable- whether due to coronavirus or anything else.

Thanks for this thread and to all for the very useful tips. I was thinking about my Plan B just this morning and this is what I think I would do.

1. Ask my mom's main carer - who's been at home for 2 weeks now - to move in with my mother. She has a little dog who's really frightened by our cat, so the cat has to be in another place.

2. Isolate in my home with my cat.

3. Iv'e sent this morning to my 2 best friends an updated list of the most important contacts and will send them encrypted instructions for everything asap.

For now I can't think of anything else without feeling my brain going numb.

Soap and water is best but sanitizer is portable and easy to use for in between washing your hands.

This recipe was shown on our local news channel for homemade sanitizer.

1/3 cup aloe vera gel
2/3 cup of 99% rubbing alcohol
Mixing bowl
A spoon or whisk
A clean empty container such as a plastic travel bottle or a pump bottle

Simply stir ingredients and pour into container. You may also add a few drops of essential oil for a pleasant scent.

If you got sick, most likely your loved one would have already been exposed since you can be contagious for several days before you have symptoms. If you are relatively healthy - no cardiac disease, stable blood pressure, no respiratory problems, and no immune problems - you should have a very mild course of disease (think cold or flu symptoms for 2 weeks).

Put good practices into place now. Keep 6 feet from loved one. Practice good hand washing techniques (consider hand and fingers have 6 surfaces to clean while singing happy birthday song twice). Frequently disinfect surfaces that are touched often: knobs, buttons, counters... If you must be close to mom to loved one to provide care, consider washing hands before and after care and "breathing" away from loved one's face.