Swine Flu Etiquette: Should families self quarantine?

We all know I’m a germaphobe, but I am wondering about some choices moms are making after they know one of their children has the Swine Flu. Here are a few examples to consider for our discussion:

1. A child is officially diagnosed with the Swine Flu. The mom, her husband and the child’s sibling all show up at a very optional social event two days later.  My feeling is they put other people at risk showing up when one of their children had full on Swine Flu.

The mother’s argument was that she was trying to keep the second child away from the first so he wouldn’t catch it, but a few minutes earlier she had said the doctor said they were most contagious before they felt sick. So her son had already been exposed under that theory.

2. Another mom reported that after her eldest was diagnosed with the Swine Flu she still sent her daughter to school the next day. One day later, that daughter had the Swine Flu. The mom and the baby ended up catching it too. The husband has yet to come down with it. Who knows how many classmates also picked it up!

My assumption is that sibs and probably mothers are going to catch it if one child has it, and I would argue that if at all possible (for at least for 24 to 48 hours after a diagnosis) kids and parents should try to stay away from other people to help prevent the Swine Flu from spreading.

I know in some cases parents cannot miss work. And I’m not saying a well child should be kept out of school for a week or anything that extreme. I just think I would be inclined to keep the “well” child out at least for a day to see what develops. And at the very least skip optional activities for the whole family.

3. A mom who runs a daycare center says they do allow sibs of Swine Flu patients to come to school. They’re not so worried about sibs spreading it as they are parents giving the actual patient Motrin and sending that child on to school because they can’t miss work.

So those are some examples with Swine Flu to think about. But let’s also look at it the context of other illnesses:

Last year my baby has the Rotavirus. She was sick for a week. We had planned to have a Valentine’s Party that weekend at a jumpy place with a bunch of friends. Obviously I wouldn’t have gone and wouldn’t have brought the baby, but the same mom from my first example was very adamant that she didn’t want to be around any members of my family at all! We ended up canceling the party instead of having friends worry about their kids catching something from us. (None of the other kids came down with it.)

Would you keep kids home from school or away from social activities if one child had:

The stomach flu?

The Rotavirus?

The regular Flu?

Pin worms?

Lice?

Chicken Pox?

Have you ever quarantined sibs when another child was sick with another illness? Do you think families should self-quarantine at least for a day or two if one child has the Swine Flu? Should sibs and parents at least skip optional activities?