Safety Precautions: What to Do When Yaya Goes on Day Off

The pandemic has forced us to change our household routines and to err on the side of caution. This includes needing to manage even the rest days of our hired helpers to ensure minimal risk of transmitting any virus from outdoors. The fear escalates even more when your child’s yaya leaves the home because of the close proximity she has with your child.

“How should I manage my helper when she comes back home? Should she be quarantined? For how long? Should she be tested?”

…and the list of questions and worries go on and on. We asked a doctor for some expert advice so we can help each other keep our homes and families safe from Covid-19.

Whenever someone goes out of the house, the risk of contracting the virus is present. According to Dr. Cosico, it’s best to consider your helper or yaya as infected and should be quarantined for 14 days upon return just to be sure. But for households who are not able to quarantine, maybe due to workload at home, always have them wear face masks and carry around alcohol to always sanitize their hands.

A negative antigen test is not a guarantee that an individual is not infected with the COVID-19 virus. The result can be a false negative. It’s also the same with the RT-PCR test. So, it’s always the best option to do a quarantine period upon return.