This week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the closure of schools for all levels for 3 weeks, excluding daycare centers.
Due to the growing number of cases of COVID-19, he might require the closure of daycare centers too. He said during a conference on Sunday afternoon that parents should be ready as he will be closing daycare centers. He advised parents to fetch their children and stay at home at the earliest possible time.
The director of Trinity Center for Creative Children in Lima, Christina Vorhes, said that last Friday, they are still encouraging parents to continue bringing their children to daycare centers. She does not like to hear that the governor is asking parents to take their children from the centers, but she understands his concern. She is going to have a discussion with the parents on Monday regarding other options on how they want to handle such situations, if they still allow their kids to attend daycare or if to keep them out over the next few weeks.
Other daycare centers have already taken measures on disinfecting their buildings.
Rachel Smith, director of Little Pioneers Early Learning School in Lima, said that their number one priority is the safety of the kids and their staff. She also said that they have taken different measures to keep the center clean and to sanitize their toys and anything that the children are likely to touch.
Smith also added that she would support the parent's decision if they choose to keep their kids at home with them for now because she knows that parents are doing what they think is right for their children and families. She said that there is no panic happening currently for their daycare and that the children's parents are very appreciative of their decision to accept their kids despite the novel coronavirus outbreak. She also added that they would remain open as long as the government allows and approves them to do so.
A lot of staffers are open to the idea of babysitting in their own houses if the governor declares the total closure of daycare centers.
According to Smith, most of her staff would still want to babysit. However, since their center is a nonprofit organization, and their paychecks would rely on when kids are being enrolled, she is hoping that the government would be considerate of them and their staff's situation, and be concerned about how they are going to survive if this closure goes on.
DeWine also wants to segregate classes being held to keep the spread of the virus at bay.
Vorhes said that they already have segregated areas and as much as possible, they keep groups small. Normally, they would have 3 to 5 classes joined together in one lunchroom to eat. However, next week Monday, they plan to have a change in their schedules and let children have lunch in their classrooms, separating groups to eat by themselves.
