Close Search Box. Official Website of Michigan. You are here Coronavirus. Should parents and caregivers wear masks when dropping their children off at childcare?
Have questions? Chat with Robin. Those who work as or for licensed child care providers are also eligible. This means that in addition to existing state and local COVID vaccination sites, teachers and staff in schools and child care programs across the nation can sign up for an appointment at over 9, pharmacy locations participating in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID Vaccination.
Getting vaccinated as soon as the opportunity is available is an important way for you and your staff to stay safe and reduce the risk of getting seriously ill from COVID Even after child care providers and staff are vaccinated, there will be a need to continue prevention measures for the foreseeable future including wearing masks, physical distancing, and other important prevention strategies outlined in this guidance document.
Two of the most important steps to take before reopening and for continuing operations are planning and preparing. To best plan and prepare, you should expect that children, staff, and family members might become sick with COVID, and your child care program must know what to do when this happens. An important step is to review, update, and implement emergency operations plans EOPs — also known as Emergency or Disaster Preparedness Plans.
Your child care program should have a plan in place to protect staff, children, and their families from the spread of COVID You should develop your plan based on state licensing regulations and in collaboration with regulatory agencies, state and local public health departments, and child care health consultants or other organizations that support your child care program.
The actions put in place by your child care program and taken by the staff and families will help reduce the risk of spreading COVID Using many of the following prevention strategies at the same time can lower the risk of transmission of COVID in your child care program. Use visual tools , demonstrations, stories, and play:. It is important that you comfort crying, sad, or anxious infants and toddlers and they often need to be held.
To the extent possible when holding, washing, or feeding young children, protect yourself by:. CDC does not recommend using face shields or goggles as a substitute for masks. Do NOT put a plastic face shield or a mask on newborns or infants. For more information, visit Considerations for Wearing Masks. Store cloth masks properly and wash them regularly to keep them clean.
Have more than one mask on hand so that you can easily replace a dirty mask with a clean one. Make sure to remove your mask correctly and wash your hands after touching a used mask. When reusing your mask after a break, keep the same side facing out. For more information on washing masks, visit How to Wash Masks.
Consider using the following recommended changes to physical spaces to maintain a healthy child care environment. Cleaning and promoting hand hygiene are important everyday actions schools can take to slow the spread of COVID and other infectious diseases and protect students and staff. Cleaning with products containing soap or detergent reduces germs on surfaces and objects by removing contaminants and may also weaken or damage some of the virus particles, which decreases risk of infection from surfaces.
Cleaning high touch surfaces and shared objects once a day is usually enough to sufficiently remove virus that may be on surfaces unless someone with confirmed or suspected COVID has been in your school. For more information on cleaning and disinfecting schools, see Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility. Disinfecting using disinfectants on U. If someone in your school is sick or someone who has COVID has been in your school in the last 24 hours, clean and disinfect your facility.
For more information on cleaning and disinfecting safely, see Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility. Always read and follow the directions on how to use and store cleaning and disinfecting products. Disinfection products should not be used by children or near children. Ventilate the space when using these products to prevent children from inhaling toxic vapor. Consider ventilation system upgrades or improvements and other steps to increase the delivery of clean air and dilute potential contaminants in the building.
Learn More. Always follow standard practices and appropriate regulations specific to your school for minimum standards for cleaning and disinfection. For more information on cleaning various surfaces and other cleaning guidelines, see Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility. Consider how you can bring in as much fresh air into your child care center or family child care home as possible.
Bringing fresh, outdoor air into your center or home helps keep virus particles from concentrating inside. Before students and staff return to a school or childcare building that has been closed for an extended time, look for ways to reduce potential hazards. Flush plumbing including all sink faucets, water fountains, water bottle fillers, hoses, and showers to replace all water inside building pipes with fresh water. This can help protect occupants from possible exposure to lead , copper , and Legionella bacteria.
You can also follow the U. Follow guidance to check your building for mold and remediate as needed. Drinking fountains should be cleaned and sanitized. Encourage staff and families to bring their own water to minimize use and touching of water fountains or consider installing no-touch activation methods for water fountains.
While there is currently no evidence that ingesting food is associated with spreading COVID, it is possible that a person can get COVID by touching a surface or object, including food or food packaging, that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. However, this is not the main way the virus spreads.
Multiple strategies can be used by your child care program and staff to maintain healthy child care program operations. Provide accommodations, modifications, and assistance for children with disabilities and special needs:. Place children and child care providers into distinct groups that stay together throughout an entire day.
Consider whether to alter or halt daily group activities that might increase risk of COVID transmission. To minimize the likelihood of infecting others in the facility, consider implementing flexible sick leave policies and practices that enable your staff to stay home when they are sick, have been exposed, or are caring for someone who is sick. The best way to prevent the COVID spread is to keep the virus from getting into your child care program in the first place.
It is important to communicate to parents, guardians, or caregivers to monitor their children every day for signs of infectious illness including COVID Children who have symptoms of any infectious illness or symptoms of COVID should not attend your child care program. The length of time the child should stay out of child care depends on whether the child has COVID or another illness.
Conduct daily health screenings external icon for any person entering the child care facility, including children, staff, family members, and other visitors, to find those with symptoms, diagnosis, or exposure to COVID Screening for symptoms and for possible exposure to the virus are important COVID prevention strategies. However, given the wide range of symptoms and the fact that many people, especially children, with COVID illness have no symptoms at all, screening will not identify everyone who has COVID This is even more likely in young children, who typically have multiple viral illnesses each year.
Examples of daily health screenings include self-checks for symptoms by staff and families before arriving at the child care facility, answering screening questions upon arrival, and performing daily temperature checks.
All child care providers should consider putting into practice a daily routine of conducting a brief verbal health assessment as your children are dropped off, before the parent or caregiver leaves, that asks about. People who have a fever of
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