With Northampton and Lehigh counties now in Governor Tom Wolf’s Yellow, childcare facilities are allowed to open if they can comply with Department of Human Services (DHS) guidance. Pa. is not issuing its own guidance for daycare centers; rather, the state expects childcare facilities to operate according to CDC advice (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/guidance-for-childcare.html). This is true for all daycare facilities, including home-based daycares, pre-K programs at schools, and Head Start programs.

DHS Secretary Teresa Miller and Tracy Campanini (Deputy Secretary for the DHS Office of Child Development and Early Learning, or OCDEL) held a call-in press conference June 2 to discuss how daycare facilities in particular can comply with CDC guidance and state regulations.

CDC recommendations for childcare facilities include basic hygiene instructions like frequent hand-washing, disinfection of frequently touched surfaces, and covering coughs and sneezes. Although daycare centers typically have rules instructing parents to keep sick children home, these rules now include setting up isolation areas for children who become symptomatic of any illness during their stay.

“Social distancing,” the term that has become commonplace since March, usually implies a six-foot physical distance between individuals. However, in the context of daycare facilities, the CDC advises separating children into groups that will share a particular space on a daily basis. Individual children do not have to be spaced apart from each other, but should be separated from other groups of children, including at drop-off and pick-up times.

Campanini explains, “So much of the [social distancing] messaging many people are familiar with is six feet. That’s not necessarily achievable in a childcare setting. The CDC guidance is about maintaining groups of children, maintaining clean surfaces and hygiene practices. Toileting, diaper changing […] all of that requires close contact.” She advises, “Practice good respiratory etiquette, staff should wear masks, practice frequent handwashing, and come up with a schedule for frequent disinfection of high-touch surfaces.” Additionally, although a typical day at a childcare center involves adults moving around and interacting with different groups of children, DHS is asking daycares to assign adult staff to particular groups of children and not to “mix and mingle.”

The CDC also recommends screening children daily for temperatures 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or above, but leaves the method up to the daycare facility, with several options described. Although either physical distancing, plastic/glass barriers, or personal protective equipment (PPE) should be used if staff take children’s temperatures, PPE and N95 masks are not broadly recommended within facilities. Staff should wear cloth face coverings in childcare facilities, and older children may be directed to wear them in more crowded spaces. Because of the risk of suffocation, children age two and younger should not wear face coverings. Additionally, as Deputy Secretary Campanini explains, information from health experts at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the CDC indicates that “[y]oung children who wear masks are frequently touching their face, and they slip, and then adults have to reposition them. Adults working in childcare would actually be putting themselves in greater contact with children if they [children] wear masks.”

Daycare staff should protect themselves when “washing, feeding, or holding very young children” by styling their hair off the collar in a high ponytail or updo and wearing an oversized, long-sleeve, button-down shirt, in addition to following strict handwashing protocols.

Three resources parents can use to find open childcare centers, as well as to determine whether they qualify for childcare subsidies, are:

www.FindChildCare.PA.gov;

www.RaiseYourStar.org (Pa. Early Learning Resource Centers); and

www.Compass.PA.gov.