I wasn’t planning on testing either but the CDC rule (according to S19’s doctor) is for boosted close contacts to take a PCR at day five if asymptomatic and before that if they have symptoms. You and your family could have had asymptomatic Covid or still do.
Sorry. This is in response to @showmom858
The CDC’s guidance is more nuanced on that topic.
I was exposed, and I’m not getting a PCR, but we’ve been universally masking and were negative on a antigen test at day-1 and day-5. Alternatively, in the absence of any test availability, you could all universally mask for 10 days. Hang in there.
D20’s BF delayed his booster for the same reasons as your S19 and tested positive at the start of finals. He was in D20’s room for a small get together the night before he tested positive (discovered in surveillance testing before he became symptomatic), so he was in close contact to not only D20 but her 7 roommates as well. He has 8 roommates and shares a direct bedroom with two other students. D20, her roommates and her BF’s roommates were all vaccinated and boosted at the end of November. None of them tested positive (They all were tested immediately and 5 days out.) I am hoping that the booster will perform the same for your family!
Yeah I don’t know. Doctor said PCR not rapid on day five. It would catch an asymptomatic infection that a rapid might not. We will probably do an antigen test before the PCR in case it’s positive and then we can start counting our five days from Monday instead of waiting for our Monday results that won’t come until Wed. I go back to work at a middle school on Monday so I’d like to know something as soon as possible. Of course we are masked at school but still…
I got a sketchy vertical and horizontal pink line on an at-home test so did a PCR yesterday. I had the results in about 18 hours. Negative, as I expected, but I felt like I should practice what I preach and follow through even if the “positive” home test was weird.
Everyone I was with in the past week had tested negative, including dh, who I’ve been with 24/7. Ds1 and DIL tested yesterday, two days after their flight home. But the thought that I could have Covid is for sure going to make me buckle down again now that the holidays are mostly over.
Adding another anecdote to the pile. One young family we know has been half-sick. Mom came down with fever, cough, sniffles, and kiddos had been running sniffles, too. Dad was feeling just fine… because of the holidays and snowmageddon, they could only get tested five days after mom’s onset of symptoms. Mom is positive, the rest of the family is not. They plan to retest, but who knows when they would be able to. So they are masking up and watching for any weird symptoms. Mom is already feeling better, but kiddos are still wiping their noses every minute. Dad feels fine… Both parents were vaccinated not that long ago, but kiddos are too young for Covid shots.
PCR will test positive with lower viral load. Still, both are slices in time. Both have false negatives. Fingers crossed for you.
Our S on day four of symptoms feels almost 100 percent today. Tested positive just yesterday.
He was only boosted three days before we think he was infected so either (a) his two Pfizer shots done in the spring still helped or (b) omicron isn’t as severe.
Our son has been very similar. First symptoms 12/24 (day 0), negative. Symptoms a little worse 12/25 (day 1), positive. Into isolation. Tested positive still on day 4, nearly asymptomatic. Today (day 6), completely asymptomatic and afebrile, but tested very faintly positive today. Tomorrow he should be in the clear.
We figured out he caught it on 12/22. We were exposed until he isolated on Christmas Day. We’re asymptomatic and negative. He went on a 3h round trip car ride Friday with a friend. He’s negative. We’re all vaxxed and boosted, including him.
We ended isolation today, but are eating in separate closed rooms, keeping our distance and wearing N95s or good equivalents (KF94). 
S was basically 100% fine by Day 4 when he caught Delta in the summer (double vaxxed). His British cousins had COVID in 2020 (before vaccines) and also recovered similarly quickly. While I tend towards the view that Omicron is milder in general, his experience is not atypical for a 20 year old with earlier variants, even pre-vaccination.
Both H and I tested today and we are both negative so we will go to the small outdoor New Year’s Eve gathering with friends.
S18 is at our home this week alone while S21 and younger sibling (not boosted bc 13) are with us. He is not masking with his friends and gathering indoors bc cold weather. I’m annoyed but cannot force him to comply. We return tomorrow night and I don’t know what to do. My concern is S21 who will have to test negative to return to school (unless they go remote). Next concern is 13yo who isn’t boosted. I also frankly don’t want to come home to a house that has had 10 kids unmasked for hours. So first I’m going to ask that no one come into home tomorrow. But what do I do about S18? Make him mask? He will likely just drive back to school if we do that. And I’d like to spend more of the break with him (only have seen him a week). How are you all handling these situations?
If everyone is double vaxxed and those who are eligible are boosted I’m comfortable with the risk UNLESS someone has underlying conditions that would indicate immune compromised or very high risk. I currently know a dozen people with COVID. Not one has any symptom that would make me forgo seeing my child any more than I would have during a “ bad match” flu season.
Our daughter came home recently and had been exposed to Covid but was testing negative. Sure there was some risk that she was really positive and could pass it on but we felt comfortable with no masks in our home. We did not go out though because we didn’t want to take a risk for others.
The other thing is that it takes such a short exposure to be infected with this variant that masking is in my view essentially pointless if you are going to allow him to eat and drink with others unless you also make him stay in his room alone while doing so. Even then there is some risk.
@MIP750, for me personally, it’s a no brainer. If he cant abide by protocols in YOUR home, he can go back to school early. Risking the health of your 13 year old and the rest of the family is not worth seeing him for another week or whatever the length of his remaining break is. I would be disappointed in his lack of respect for the family as well. YMMV
@CottonTales Yes, I’m thoroughly disappointed. He is normally a very kind and responsible human. My sense is that among many college students this is typical behavior. All of my peers (the parents) are dealing with similar situations bc their kids are living maskless in the dorms and then come home where the ground shifts.
@maya54 I don’t think any of us will suffer greatly if we get COVID. We are all healthy otherwise. But of course I don’t want to get sick bc kid was careless. Spouse is more tolerant of this behavior. So that creates another issue. I’m so tired of disagreeing about levels of compliance and/or risk. And yes I think if we made him mask we’d make him eat in his room. I think I will ask him to rapid test tomorrow before our arrival and then each morning.
@MIP750, definitely a difficult situation to be in. But…nobody thinks that they or their loved ones are going to get really sick from Covid, we are healthy, right?
Until they do, with unimaginable consequences.
We all hope that our otherwise healthy selves support our health if we get COVID. Unfortunately that is not the way it works. There are no guarantees. My 29 year old teacher son who is vaccinated, healthy, athletic was DOWN for a week with COVID including one trip to an urgent care due to vomiting/dizzyness as a symptom.
Who is being put out here? The S who is “visiting” and not being cautious? Or the parents/family who owns the home and at least you do not support the current in-home risk? Be truthful and share your expectations - and your wishes (that you’d love to spend more time with him but only with COVID precautions). Then he as a young adult making decisions for himeself - but not your home - can decide if he wants to stay home longer or head back to school!
Having 10 kids in the house while we were gone would be our biggest issue, covid or not! That being said… I would ask him (no matter the weather) to open the windows for a certain period of time to try to get some fresh air in before you get home. And then I’d probably do it again when I got home just to be sure, maybe even several short periods of time throughout the day to keep the house somewhat warm.
But after that… S19 goes out with his friends and hangs out indoors unmasked. I waffle between my paranoia and wanting him to life his life. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, H (teacher) & I are exposed every day in our workplaces. We eat indoors, though typically in not crowded restaurants and we are usually done in 30-45 min. If I were to get sick from him, it would be easier to take than a co-worker or random person.
So… I tell myself that all of his friends are fully vax’d and probably all boosted. They’ve been exposed to so much at school already. So, I just cross my fingers and hope all is well there. And I also ask him every morning how he’s feeling and ask him to rate it on a scale of 1-10 (family joke).
You family is all boosted except for the 13 y.o. who is fully vax’d? I can definitely understand the concern, but I would try to enjoy the time you have with him. Maybe ask him to cut back a little on going out with his friends this week? And no big group gatherings in YOUR house.
Every day, I am now hearing about friends and clients and people with whom I have business connections having Covid in their households. It’s insane here. 20% positivity rate on those who are able to get a test done that gets reported, and most people can’t even get a test, or find an OTC test. We have gone back to our pre-vaccine level of isolation. Luckily, my two oldest have moved out, and the youngest went to visit one of them for winter break. When that one comes back, it’s gonna be exile in our walled off daylight basement for him, for quarantine.
Check if the 13 yr old is eligible for another Pfizer now. They just approved boosters for 12 and up, and there’s also (FINALLY!) a proposal to shorten the interval to 5 months, instead of 6 months. Make sure you are all appropriately boosted. And then I think you’re just going to have to go with acknowledging that with your lifestyles, you’re eventually going to get infected, but it will probably be mild. Every day the supply of Pfizer’s highly effective anti-Covid pill is increasing - hopefully soon we’ll all be able to get it, if we get infected.