BOSTON (WHDH) - Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday announced detailed guidelines for the phased reopening of child care programs, camps, and summer recreational programs.
The Department of Early Education and Care solicited input from thousands of child care providers across the Commonwealth and consulted with medical experts at Boston Children’s Hospital to set a list of health and safety requirements that must be implemented to minimize the spread of COVID-19 before reopening, according to the Baker administration.
Some highlights of the minimum requirements for health and safety include:
Preparedness Planning: Prior to reopening, all programs must develop plans for daily health screenings and ways to identify children and staff who are sick, symptomatic, or who become exposed to coronavirus. Programs must also have a plan in place to handle possible closings, staff absences, and gaps in child attendance, as well as determine how to communicate with staff, parents, local boards of health, and others.
- Programs must screen all staff and children with a temperature check before they are permitted to enter the child care space. Programs must establish one entry point to ensure no one is allowed in the building until they pass a health screening.
- Parents must wear masks or face coverings when picking up and dropping off their child on a staggered schedule and will be met at the door by staff.
Face Coverings: Children over the age of 2 should be encouraged to wear a face covering, at the discretion of parents or guardians, if they can safely wear, remove, and handle masks. Certain exceptions are detailed in the guidance. Masks do not need to be worn while playing outdoors if children are able to keep six feet apart.
- Children should not wear masks while eating, drinking, sleeping, or napping.
Staff members are encouraged to wear masks or cloth face coverings at all times when caring for children and interacting with parents and families.
“If possible, the department recommends staff wear transparent masks to enable children to see facial expressions, which is important for child development,” Baker’s administration said in a news release.
Group sizes and staffing: Group sizes must be restricted to a maximum of 10 children, with a total of 12 individuals including children and staff in each room. Consistent with pre-Covid operations, the infant-to-staff ratio is smaller, with 7 infants to 2 staff members and a maximum of group size of 9.
- Children must remain with the same group each day and at all times while in care. Siblings should be kept in the same group, when suitable.
- Groups must not be combined at any time.
- The same staff must remain with the same group of children each day. Staff should not float between groups either during the day or from day-to-day, with some limited exceptions.
For summer day camps: Campers and counselors will need daily health screenings, including temperature and other checks for signs and symptoms of illness. Camps will need plans in place for when a staff member or child becomes sick.
- Camp spaces will need to be prepared to ensure physical distancing.
- Camps will need to have at least two health services staff on site at all times.
- Other protocols require campers and counselors to stay together in their groups and staff will not be able to move between groups either during the day or from day-to-day, unless needed to provide supervision of specialized activities such as swimming.
- Snacks and meals should be brought from home, pre-packaged, or ready-to-serve in individual portions to minimize handling and preparation. When this is not feasible, staff must prepare and serve meals. No family-style food service.
- Parents must wear face coverings and camps must develop safe pickup/drop off procedures to maintain social distancing.
- Camps may not take campers on field trips or for other offsite travel.
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