How might we create and share updated guidelines?
Updated: Mar 20, 2020
How Might We: How might we create and share updated guidelines for childcare providers amidst COVID-19 to childcare providers across the state?
Info gathered:
Today, we learned a lot about the current rules and regulations for childcare centers across the state and are partnering with folks at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), individuals within the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) within NC DHHS, and experts in infectious disease control and epidemiology at UNC to generate updated recommendations for childcare providers amidst COVID-19. We’re hoping to have something to share by early next week.
Again, childcare centers have the option of remaining open right now and we’ve heard that all state-funded pre-K programs have closed, thus leaving mostly private childcare options left.
After several calls with individuals at DCDEE and NC DHHS we are confident that the Nutrition and Education Working Group assembled by Governor Roy Cooper understands the urgency for childcare solutions for healthcare workers across the state. We are hopeful that the Governor’s office, NC DHHS, and DCDEE will share news of a statewide effort to make it easier for all parents to find childcare across the state amid COVID-19 soon. Our conversations with NC DHHS also emphasized the need to prioritize connecting healthcare workers with open childcare centers with available childcare spots quickly. This solution would provide healthcare providers with emergency childcare while also helping those childcare centers to remain open (with funding). We will need to continue exploring other options in the event that too many childcare centers close and the ones left are no longer able to provide enough childcare to cover the children of healthcare workers.
Insights:
Everyone is asking who is going to pay for childcare for healthcare providers. We’re on it!
The state wants us to leverage open childcare centers to provide emergency childcare solutions for healthcare workers while we explore other options we may need moving forward.
Questions generated:
If we do move forward with pairing UNC Heath Care employees’ children with open childcare centers with availability, what additional recommendations will there be to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for children of non-healthcare workers in the same childcare facility (since children of healthcare workers are at higher risk of exposure)?
What is the true need for emergency childcare among UNC Health Care employees and how can we get this information ASAP? (We’re on it!)
Again, who is going to pay for or subsidize the costs for childcare for UNC Health Care employees?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of providing healthcare workers’ childcare in-house?