Teenage nephew was due for his booster, but caught covid before daughter could get him into the doctors. She isolated him in their large house. He stayed in his room and had his own bedroom and bathroom. Everyone else in the house was vaccinated, and no one else caught it. He had a cough and low energy.

They say if you're exposed you should be wearing a mask. Your coworker has been exposed and should be wearing a mask. Now I think most people have gotten pretty relaxed with that recommendation, however in the case of your coworker it's more than passing contact, it's extensive, continued contact. Even if it's not mandated in the workplace, it would be the decent thing for them to mask up for a while. IMO.

We've been through this three times this year. We isolate the people who have Covid.

The first time my oldest came home with it. We knew it when he came home. He was sent upstairs and told to stay in his room/area for a week. We set up a microwave outside his door with a mug, bowl, tea, ramen, snacks, etc., so he could eat and drink as needed. I dropped off food as I cooked it for the rest of the family. We stayed safe while he recuperated.

The second time my youngest caught it along with me and my husband. We isolated my middle child from us. He was at work most of the time anyway so it wasn't hard. I kept reminding him to wash his hands.

Third time, my middle child caught it from work. I made him stay in his room or go watch tv upstairs. I fed him as needed. We all survived and no one else caught.

I really stressed handwashing during these times.

We had two confirmed exposures within the same week last month. Thankfully, did not catch the virus. 5 of the 11 of us gathered to have birthday cake did come down with it....

What our health department had said was wear a mask if you know you've been exposed and socially distance - both for a minimum of 5 days.

Then went for our bivalent booster on the 14th day.

If you have reason to think you were exposed you could wear a mask but kids go home from school with COVID and nothing is done at school as far as asking classmates to wear a mask. I do not think a week isolated is protocol. It's maybe five , mostly they stress 24 hours after symptoms subside/no fever you are good to go.

Arcy-I'm not so much asking about me, I wasn't exposed to the child and not likely co-worker was positve when I last saw them. My main concern is co-worker will be home taking care of the child and it will take a few days for the child to get better...in the meantime, coworker is being exposed daily. I guess co-worker could test before coming back to work and mask up just in case they are in the incubation period.

It would be considerate for the coworker to work from home, if possible, until the child tests negative.

When I believed I was exposed in March, I made sure to wear a mask every single day at work. Low and behold on day 4 of testing regularly and wearing a mask, I tested positive. My co-workers were all safe from me. BUT: another co-worker gave it to three of us..... ;(

Exposed to people w/ COVID and people taking care of COVID (+) people on a daily basis; protect self by vaccination and wearing a tight fitting medical mask that covers nose and mouth well.

Unfortunately common sense and consideration have deserted our nation. Substitute the word "flu" and even though the present risk is greater for some, sensible precautions aren't that different and thoughtless behavior remains thoughtless behavior.