to tell or not

*Ollie*

Hello,

My 80 year old mom (dementia) tested positive for Covid on Wednesday.  Her symptoms were very mild but we still decided to test.  The exposure came  from a potential caregiver .  She lives with us and my husband and I tested negative.  We've been keeping an eye on her, monitoring her symptoms and she's doing ok.  No change to her eating or sleeping habits and it's already been 10 days since she was exposed.   We have some home tests and I'm hoping that by the time we test her again, she will not be positive.   Wondering if she does test positive again if we should tell her.   It's hard to know what is right!  She tends to run anxious and can be very irrational.  

M1

If you can keep her isolated where she's not going to expose anyone else I see no reason to bring it up....

*Ollie*

That's what we were thinking.  She's not going anywhere (except for walks with me to get some fresh air - no one else is around) so as long as she continues to be ok, we are thinking not to tell her.  She vaccinated, had her booster...there's nothing different that we would do if she knew.

Emily 123

I agree with you.  My mom's AL/MC keeps having aides that are mildly symptomatic and so they quarantine, but none of the boosted residents have been (+) yet.  I'd say if she continues to be fairly asymptomatic why tell her?

Tfreedz

Hi Ollie. I would not tell her. I had a previous post (Covid confusion..ugh) talking about my adult brother with Downs who tested positive. We had to isolate him from the rest of us which was very confusing and upsetting to my mom. My mom like yours tends to be anxious. Fortunately no one else in the home tested positive. We were told not to retest my brother as he could test positive for several months without being contagious. As long as your careful with who she is around and sanitizing everything she touches, no need to worry her.