Child care has always been a through line for communities, supporting children and families in a myriad of ways, but its essential role has been underscored throughout the pandemic. While schools and businesses shut down in the spring of 2020, child care remained open in some capacity in most states so essential personnel could continue to work to keep communities running. The child care sector now faces the uncertainty of an unprecedented school year and the challenges that come along with a new demand for care for school-age children as remote learning becomes the new norm. Child care cannot meet these demands on its own. The system needs sufficient policy solutions. 

Financial Impact and Federal Relief 

The COVID-19 impact on child care programs is pervasive and multi-faceted. Child care business owners have faced abrupt program closures or reduced operational capacity. Programs that stayed open, including those mandated to only serve essential workers, have had to front much higher than usual operational costs. These extra costs include cleaning and disinfection supplies, health screening resources, personal protective equipment, and environmental modifications to accommodate small group sizes and physical distancing in programs. Payroll costs also have surged as more staff is needed to conduct health screenings for children in care, clean throughout the day and supervise smaller groups of children. 

It’s September! And as you may know, each September is recognized as National Preparedness Month. Preparedness Month promotes family and community disaster planning now, during the month, and throughout the year. 

Carbon Monoxide 

Emergency events or disasters can happen anywhere at any time.  And with some types of events, power may be lost or turned off for a period of time. Luckily, generators are a good source of power for your home or business and can be used relatively easily. However, it is important to use a generator safely to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The COVID-19 public health crisis is heightening awareness of child care as a core foundational need for both working parents and employers. Under typical circumstances, parents need accessible, safe and affordable child care so they can work. Employers also need quality child care options for their employees for their business to work. This year (2020) has been anything but typical. The COVID-19-induced erosion of an already broken child care system is having critical impacts on both parents with young children and their employers.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on July 15, 2020 but has since been updated with information from a new alert from the FDA about sanitizers that include isopropyl alcohol as an ingredient. 

Child care providers implement hand hygiene procedures to keep children in care, their families and themselves healthy and well. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased hand hygiene vigilance in child care programs to protect against viral spread. Health experts recommend using hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol when hand washing with soap is not feasible. Hand sanitizer that once was extremely difficult to access early on in the coronavirus crisis, now is increasingly becoming more available. As a result of the pandemic, new hand sanitizer brands and products are being introduced into the consumer market. Unfortunately, some of the emerging hand sanitizer products are not safe to use, prompting alerts by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).