I don't know what to do...

Gad3,i think its ok to touch your face with clean hands.or probably ok if youve not been out at all & you're in your own home,which youve cleaned/ antibacced/ antiviralled already- and you've washed you're face/ hands.

Daffydilly, is your father capable of understanding what is happening? If so can you have a talk with him about what his wishes are regarding the risk of his dying of Covid19 compared with not hugging you?

If he is not capable of understanding and is an affectionate man who likes physical contact, perhaps his loneliness would be such he'd be happier if you took the risk on his behalf. How old is he anyway?

I understand your own feelings however I am afraid your own feelings have to be put aside regarding physical contact.

If your father can understand what is happening there are some few precautions you can take when you visit him. You can wear disposable plastic shoe covers(cheap from ebay or Amazon) and disposable rubber gloves. You can keep your own cutlery and crockery separate at his house, You can keep a distance of six feet away and make sure the room is ventilated.

My daughter is a nurse and for the first time yesterday she had to pick her children 7 & 8 up from school and not hug them or even hold their hands. They went home and all three showered and changed their clothes before having a cuddle. She's sat them down and explained everything as gently as she can and they seem to understand. Hubby's in a vulnerable category, yet we both work in the school which is still open. I face timed the girls last night and felt much better afterwards. My parents are 81 & 83. I have already visited them for the last time for the time being. Such a tough, sad time for everyone, but we must try our best to keep ourselves and everyone else safe.

I am 68 with no underlying illness and look after 2 small grandchildren once a week 48 miles away, my DH however has an artificial heart valve and a kidney disease, would it be wrong to carry on and in fact increase my child care to 2 days a week when the school and nursery close? Dilemma !

I won’t be seeing my beautiful kids or my joyous grandkids for 3 months.... my daughter /granddaughter both have asthma ! We must all keep in touch with technology or phone. I’m assuming tour dad has a phone.... it will have to do for now.

Marydoll and everyone else facing these awful dilemma's. Try to stay strong. I to have children and GC's I can't see but all we can do is keep our distance from each other for everyone's sake. Please wear latex gloves at work if you can. I also have seen people with paper facemasks and then another one made of material that they have made themselves placed on top. Then at least you can change the paper one as it get s damp. Suffering from anxiety myself, I know how hard it is to stay calm but we must try. 'This to will pass'. Does anyone know who first coined that expression? hugs to you all.

I was supposed to be taking my youngest(so far) GD age 6 on holiday with me this easter,(uk) but now i think will have to cancel.she had never been away on holiday with me before and was so looking forward to it! We will both be heartbroken.

I feel for everyone so much I am not in the vulnerable category just old so although I m staying away in general I m still having contact with my family that live near me
I cannot imagine how hard it is if you have a close vulnerable relative daffy I used to go to mum and Dad nearly every day I don’t know how I would have managed
marydoll my heart goes out to you please stay the strong lady you are , dig deep?

To everyone

You can’t calm the storm
...so stop trying
What you can do
...is calm yourself
The storm will pass

Daffydilly my heart goes out to you. I would avoid being in close contact with your dad as if he did catch the virus you are the kind of caring person who would never forgive themselves. Instead you need to look at other ways of being in contact. There is telephone contact, you can go and stand outside the house and wave to him through the window and blow him umpteen kisses, leave a pot plant or some flowers on the doorstep. I would chat to him now to see how he is feeling and how he thinks he can manage presuming he has mental capacity.
I am very surprised your employer is not taking more steps to protect you and I think you should be asking them about this. After all you are frontline and very important to the whole community - hats off to you.
Take care. we can all get through this together. If any of us throw a wobbly which is quite likely given the circumstances we are all here to support each other.

What a lovely lady you are, it's hard during this time when we have to continue working.
Please keep yourself as safe as you can wear gloves and wash your hands.
Have you thought when the weather is ok you could go for a walk with your Dad just no physical contact.

It's an emotional, scary time for us all.

Nanna, you will need to protect your husband from infection.

This will mean wearing freshly laundered overalls when with the children. Try to cover your hair too or at least tie it back. Wash your hands thoroughly after being with the children and again immediately you enter the house you share with your husband.

If the children show signs of respiratory illness I think you should occupy a separate room in the house from your husband and maintain six feet distance for one week but check up on the quarantine rule.

Many people today will share your emotions. My wife and I are both in our seventies, and multiple health issues place us firmly in the "at risk" group. We have four grown-up children and three young Grandchildren, and yes, as we are already self-isolating, so we share your frustration at being out of physical contact with them. However, we can see that such a measure, although it seems draconian, is both sensible and responsible. I'm afraid it really is a case of "what can't be cured must be endured". So we soldier on... indefinitely it seems... Let's hope we soon see some light at the end of this very dark tunnel.

Theres this awful underlying feeling though,isnt there? The "but what if...? feeling?..."what if we are all ok now,and i could be hugging my AC& my GC,and then anything awful happened(re.virus) and then i could never get to ever again?......"Its that awful 'not knowing anything for certain,isnt it thats so hard to take.

Mary doll you are the one person who made me get up and fight after my loss and my illnesses, I and all the other gransnet family will be strong for you as you have been for us, I am thinking of you and hope things improve ,sending you lots of love, thank you for being there for me

I tested up when I read your post Gummie. I’ve been trying to hold it together. My grand babies are my world and I am in Cornwall, they in London. We regularly babysit but I’ve been warned by the ME Assoc we must self isolate. I’m so torn. They were due to come for Easter. My DGD sobbed last night apparently when she thought she might not be coming. It broke my heart. I just want us all to be together through this but both DD and SIL are police officers so that’s not going to happen.
I couldn’t sleep last night. I’m a proactive person so I’ll throw myself into helping online with our community here but I feel a piece of me is broken. I’m also trying not to succumb to the feeling I’ll never hold them again. ?

And im being honest when i say this,ive never been a racist in any way,but im flaming well starting to resent china...i admit it....??

My scared and very vulnerable husband has already tried the line on me "Please don't go out and catch the virus or you will pass it on to me and kill me, and everyone will blame you". I therefore summoned a neighbour to run an errand, while he put on his jacket and went to the Post Office.

I keep trying to tell myself that tough times demand tough attitudes, but most of us have never experienced anything like this before and who knows what unsuspected strengths we will discover in ourselves.

Meanwhile I'm enjoying the daily operas from www.metopera.org - La Boheme today. My spirit shall soar.

Oh bootie, what kind words . Now I'm welling up again. I hope you are well, it would be good to see you posting again.

Right that's it, no more wallowing, I'm off to clean my cooker with my new steamer, I'm so excited! .

Well I am going to see my mum and dad later (84&86). I am going to make them a nice dinner, which we will eat watching a nice film. I never kiss or cuddle them, anyway (don’t feel the need; I see them at least twice a week). They need a fresh loaf and milk, so I’ll take that over. Yes all three if us are in the high risk group. They would be miserable as hell if I didn’t go round for a laugh and a chat. Before you all jump on me; the worldwide deaths so far since December caused by covid-19 are 8,000. So that’s in three months. Worldwide deaths from the start of last October until the end of Feb, caused by normal common flu... 61,000. (WHO). Just saying.... You’ll be dying of anxiety and depression. Live your lives, wash your hands.

Cant help it,but at least im honest.??

Gad3.use a clean makeup brush

I am 79 and my husband is 87.
If I were in your father’s position , I would say that you should be altuistic and continue with helping others in the pharmacy .
You can still get in touch with your father in other ways.
We oldies do understand what our children are going through

Gad3 don’t worry about touching your face with your hands if you have washed them well beforehand. I always do my face after long shower sometimes washing hair so hands perfectly clean. I think we are all going to get into very clean habits!

carry on as usual .make sure you wash hands .i wouldnt hug your dad but holding hands is good. after you washed them .i am being cynical here ,but the media have blown this out of proportion.....corona virus you catch when someone else is comaninated or when someone sneezes or cough.without covering their face.4 weeks ago b oth my daughter and i had high temp and really bad coughs .this was before all the panic/media started .so we can safely say we have had it.i still have sniffles and a cough. but i just carry on as normal.ok i wash my hands a bit more. but i still do my volunteer job at a charity shop.in other words i am not panic ing.