Montgomery County requires 10 day quarantine for kids under 5, can't test out

[Anonymous]

ICYMI - Montgomery County's health department released guidance late yesterday afternoon requiring children under 5 to quarantine for at least 10 days post-exposure, rather than the 5 days that the state/CDC guidances have put in place. Our daycare quarantines whole classes whenever anyone tests positive, so for us I think this will mean constant 10-day closures while Omicron is here.

Here is the updated guidance: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/Resources/Files/quarantine/I-Q-guidance-schools-childcare.pdf

[Anonymous]

I am so irritated by this. MoCo is trying to have it both ways-requiring masks under 5 but then turning around and not giving them any credit for it. I suppose we are supposed to feel “grateful” that they reduced it 10 days??

From a transmission perspective, what does 10 days vs. 5days with a negative test really gain you? How many new positive cases are you really rooting out during that time and is it worth parents missing up to another full week of work?

[Anonymous]

There is a group of us working to fight this. See below and if you would like more info, please email us at [e-mail]

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For MoCO daycare parents: please see the below action alert about the county's new isolation and quarantine guidance for childcare centers.

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Bad news: MoCo released updated quarantine and isolation guidance yesterday (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/Resourc...guidance-schools-childcare.pdf) that deviates from the CDC and Maryland state guidance (https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/Documents/01.06.2...ool%20Childcare%20Guidance.pdf) by imposing a 10 (vs. 5) day quarantine for exposed children under 5.

This policy will unnecessarily crush working families. Please urgently reach out the officials below via email and Twitter.

Here are sample messages to send:

"@MoCoDHHS is contradicting the state and CDC by requiring a 10 (vs. 5) day quarantine for children <5. This is unconscionable & will cause the collapse of childcare as an essential service, cost parents their jobs, & drive flight from MoCo daycares. Please help."

"If @MoCoDHHS' rationale is that kids under 5 don’t mask all day, note that MD's guidance accounts for this fact. And ask your colleagues to reckon with the cruelty of forcibly masking toddlers and preschoolers while imposing policies that treat them as if they’re fully unmasked."

"Please revise this guidance immediately to align with the rest of the state, and to make clear to childcare providers that they can combine a shortened quarantine period with test-to-stay, which was recently approved by the CDC for unvaccinated children and is being implemented in D.C. daycares."

And the list of officials to contact:

COUNTY EXECUTIVE AND COUNCILMEMBERS:
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS:
james.bridgers@montgomerycountymdgov
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Twitter handles: @Marc_Elrich, @MontCoExec, @hansriemer, @willjawando, @EvanMGlass, @albornoz_gabe, @Andrew_Friedson, @RicePolitics, @MC_Council_Katz, @nancy_navarro, @tomhucker, @MoCoDHHS, @MCDHHSDirector, @riccimike, @EarlStoddard

[Anonymous]

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/01/montgomery-co-schools-revise-covid-19-guidelines-for-schools-day-cares/

I hope Friedson follows up on this.

[Anonymous]

Ugh.

Do daycares in MoCo have to adopt this? Or can they use the MD state guidelines?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh.

Do daycares in MoCo have to adopt this? Or can they use the MD state guidelines?

OP here. Ours said they are bound by it, even though they are regulated by the state, which allows for a five-day quarantine.

[Anonymous]

One thing that sucks about this is because the rules for this age group are so unreasonable, more and more parents are just ignoring the rules altogether. When my daughter’s 3 yo class was recently quarantined 14 days, multiple parents simply sought care for their quarantined kids elsewhere at drop in centers. If anything that just increases everyone’s exposure. This will continue to happen because parents don’t have unlimited paid leave (or unpaid for that matter!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that sucks about this is because the rules for this age group are so unreasonable, more and more parents are just ignoring the rules altogether. When my daughter’s 3 yo class was recently quarantined 14 days, multiple parents simply sought care for their quarantined kids elsewhere at drop in centers. If anything that just increases everyone’s exposure. This will continue to happen because parents don’t have unlimited paid leave (or unpaid for that matter!)

Lots of people have also just stopped testing their kids unless they are required to.

[Anonymous]

Apparently a runny nose alone is being categorized by Montgomery County as a COVID symptom for kids. There goes the winter/spring...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently a runny nose alone is being categorized by Montgomery County as a COVID symptom for kids. There goes the winter/spring...

In fairness, it’s on the CDC list too. :/

[Anonymous]

For anyone who's following this roller coaster of a story... In no small part due to the pressure and outreach from parents, last night MoCo revised the K-12 and childcare guidance to allow for a 5-day quarantine for children under 5 who are exposed but test negative! (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/Resources/Files/quarantine/I-Q-guidance-schools-childcare.pdf)

I know many daycares are planning to follow this, but some are not. I highly encourage you to flag this change for your centers and tell them that others in MoCo are following it.

Do also continue to push for test-to-stay, because 5 days is still too long to quarantine healthy children. We should also press county officials to help us understand why their guidance subjects children under 5 to a 10-day isolation period following infection with no option to test out, since the CDC and Maryland guidance do not impose this requirement on children under 5.