What DC daycares have dropped masks, cut quarantine times?

[Anonymous]

The new guidance from DC Health lets daycares drop all masking and reduce exposure quarantines to 5 days.

Our daycare hasn't done either yet. I get the impression they don't want to go first.

If your daycare has announced changes since the new guidance released on Tuesday, can you share which one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new guidance from DC Health lets daycares drop all masking and reduce exposure quarantines to 5 days.

Our daycare hasn't done either yet. I get the impression they don't want to go first.

If your daycare has announced changes since the new guidance released on Tuesday, can you share which one?

I kind of gather the same thing with my daycare, although I heard OSSE is meeting again today, maybe something will get updated and everyone will finally just ban together and make the maskless move

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new guidance from DC Health lets daycares drop all masking and reduce exposure quarantines to 5 days.

Our daycare hasn't done either yet. I get the impression they don't want to go first.

If your daycare has announced changes since the new guidance released on Tuesday, can you share which one?

I kind of gather the same thing with my daycare, although I heard OSSE is meeting again today, maybe something will get updated and everyone will finally just ban together and make the maskless move

I hope so! We are moving to DC and my daughter starts at a CentroNia on March 28. Her current school went mask optional in the last couple of weeks. I'm just so so hoping she doesn't have to put the mask back on in school in conjunction with a move.

Our current school has test to stay so I guess I'll have to reacquaint myself with quarantine, but it is what it is I guess.

[Anonymous]

If it has a Head Start or Early Head Start program, they have to follow the federal mandate and still have to require masks.

[Anonymous]

I direct a full day preschool in DC. Give us a minute - this guidance was dropped on us Wednesday late afternoon. We need some time to wrap our heads around this, after 2 years of 'wear a mask' being the mantra.

I think we all need to admit to ourselves that we've all experienced trauma these last 2 years and it will take time (some a lot less time, others more time) to be ready to be out of mask in all the places in the world. Looking around my grocery store, I see about 80% in mask still - but every week there are a few more people out of mask. It takes time.

After all, for 2 years we were constantly being drilled into us, and I was drilling into our teachers - that the MOST IMPORTANT THING in our lives, ever, was to keep children from getting sick with covid. Sharing? Learning? Enjoying them? Heck, no, just focus on keeping them from getting covid,

And a HUGE part of the "layered protection concept" was masking. All the time. Inside and outside. Even adults who were vaxxed then boosted. Even 5 year olds who have been vaxxed.

So it will take us a bit to put all that down.

That being said, my takeaway from the call this morning (1.5 hours) was positive in that while we may take masks off inside if we wish, and quarantine and isolation have been shortened, there is still ALSO plenty of precautions and rules, still, about ill people. Still can't go to work/send your child with symptoms. Symptoms get you home and testing.
STAY HOME/KEEP YOUR KID HOME if they are sick. And don't return until they are WELL.

Yes, you can return from quarantine and isolation earlier with a negative covid test but still "recommended" to wear a mask days 6-10 after returning early.

We were told that we should always have some masks available so children/staff can put them on if they develop symptoms during the day to wear before they are sent home, and to make sure that we have them available when they return early from Q or I.

And there is NO test to stay at childcare centers like there has been and continues to be at public/charter schools. I don't know what their test to stay protocols are. For childcare - you get sick, you test with a PCR and you can return with a negative test. (as long as your symptoms like fever, vomiting, diarrhea have been gone for 24 hours and you don't have another communicable illness)

And indoor mask mandates will be back (and required) when CDC Community Levels reach HIGH. (hello, winter 2022-2023 perhaps? we'll see...)

But as independent programs we could ALSO bring indoor masking back under other circumstances:

* when we have a few kids getting ill (I think when that outbreak of flu happens in winter 22-23 I'll tell a classroom to wear masks for a week, stop using shared water table, get rid of cozy pillows with spit and slobber on them, etc. We used to do this before, now we'll add in the concept of masks)
* when community levels are moderate and rising
* if we have immunocompromised children in attendance who couldn't be vaxxed
* etc.

but now we can make decisions based on what makes sense for our area, our population, etc. For example, our school has had exactly ONE teacher in these 2 years get covid while still teaching so there was ONE instance of close contact. (we've been open since July 2020) The other 3 teachers and 2 children who got it weren't at our school the 2 days before symptoms started because we were on winter break.

And that ONE teacher who was positive while we were open meant one classroom and 6 staff members were close contacts but exactly NONE of us got covid. Zero of us. 22 close contacts - no covid.

BUT - other childcare centers have had quite a few teachers or children getting covid. And have had to close classrooms left and right for quarantining purposes. Why?

Perhaps luck,
perhaps less stringent with sending kids and teachers home when sick,
or less stringent on not letting kids/teachers coming when sick.
Maybe our parents are more vaccinated.
Maybe our parents are doing fewer things in large groups. maybe our teachers are doing fewer things in large groups.

Maybe our parents are primarily white collar workers who have been working from HOME vs blue collar who had to go to work and therefore were exposed on metro, at work, with larger groups of people (I do think this was a HUGE factor in our low cases, honestly).

Maybe all of those things and a lot more. Who knows?

[Anonymous]

Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

I’ve been trying not to bug our director because this is evolving quickly but am worried that the loud mask forever voices are being heard and have been thinking about just politely letting our director know we are in favor of mask optional to kind of keep the balance. Do you think that’s helpful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I direct a full day preschool in DC. Give us a minute - this guidance was dropped on us Wednesday late afternoon. We need some time to wrap our heads around this, after 2 years of 'wear a mask' being the mantra.

I think we all need to admit to ourselves that we've all experienced trauma these last 2 years and it will take time (some a lot less time, others more time) to be ready to be out of mask in all the places in the world. Looking around my grocery store, I see about 80% in mask still - but every week there are a few more people out of mask. It takes time.

After all, for 2 years we were constantly being drilled into us, and I was drilling into our teachers - that the MOST IMPORTANT THING in our lives, ever, was to keep children from getting sick with covid. Sharing? Learning? Enjoying them? Heck, no, just focus on keeping them from getting covid,

And a HUGE part of the "layered protection concept" was masking. All the time. Inside and outside. Even adults who were vaxxed then boosted. Even 5 year olds who have been vaxxed.

So it will take us a bit to put all that down.

That being said, my takeaway from the call this morning (1.5 hours) was positive in that while we may take masks off inside if we wish, and quarantine and isolation have been shortened, there is still ALSO plenty of precautions and rules, still, about ill people. Still can't go to work/send your child with symptoms. Symptoms get you home and testing.
STAY HOME/KEEP YOUR KID HOME if they are sick. And don't return until they are WELL.

Yes, you can return from quarantine and isolation earlier with a negative covid test but still "recommended" to wear a mask days 6-10 after returning early.

We were told that we should always have some masks available so children/staff can put them on if they develop symptoms during the day to wear before they are sent home, and to make sure that we have them available when they return early from Q or I.

And there is NO test to stay at childcare centers like there has been and continues to be at public/charter schools. I don't know what their test to stay protocols are. For childcare - you get sick, you test with a PCR and you can return with a negative test. (as long as your symptoms like fever, vomiting, diarrhea have been gone for 24 hours and you don't have another communicable illness)

And indoor mask mandates will be back (and required) when CDC Community Levels reach HIGH. (hello, winter 2022-2023 perhaps? we'll see...)

But as independent programs we could ALSO bring indoor masking back under other circumstances:

* when we have a few kids getting ill (I think when that outbreak of flu happens in winter 22-23 I'll tell a classroom to wear masks for a week, stop using shared water table, get rid of cozy pillows with spit and slobber on them, etc. We used to do this before, now we'll add in the concept of masks)
* when community levels are moderate and rising
* if we have immunocompromised children in attendance who couldn't be vaxxed
* etc.

but now we can make decisions based on what makes sense for our area, our population, etc. For example, our school has had exactly ONE teacher in these 2 years get covid while still teaching so there was ONE instance of close contact. (we've been open since July 2020) The other 3 teachers and 2 children who got it weren't at our school the 2 days before symptoms started because we were on winter break.

And that ONE teacher who was positive while we were open meant one classroom and 6 staff members were close contacts but exactly NONE of us got covid. Zero of us. 22 close contacts - no covid.

BUT - other childcare centers have had quite a few teachers or children getting covid. And have had to close classrooms left and right for quarantining purposes. Why?

Perhaps luck,
perhaps less stringent with sending kids and teachers home when sick,
or less stringent on not letting kids/teachers coming when sick.
Maybe our parents are more vaccinated.
Maybe our parents are doing fewer things in large groups. maybe our teachers are doing fewer things in large groups.

Maybe our parents are primarily white collar workers who have been working from HOME vs blue collar who had to go to work and therefore were exposed on metro, at work, with larger groups of people (I do think this was a HUGE factor in our low cases, honestly).

Maybe all of those things and a lot more. Who knows?

Thanks for sharing this and for the work that you do. I'm so appreciative of all of the child care teachers and directors who have been in this for two years. I'm so sorry you've had to go through this.

It saddens me greatly, though it does not surprise me, to hear that you were pressured to disregard children's development and wellbeing for the sake of COVID. I don't blame you at all - I feel this is a profound failure of our public health authorities and it's a failure that I fear will be repeated. I think it was a panic response by political people because the actual public health people I know made very clear to us in 2020 to prioritize our child's development over COVID safety given our low risk profile. Unfortunately, without going into too much detail, these policies (in a center in MD) had a serious impact on our child, an impact that we're currently addressing through very expensive therapy:

1. Being required to transition to a new classroom "cold turkey" instead of having a gradual transition
2. Parents not being allowed inside the center under any circumstances whatsoever (this is not about me not wanting my child to cry at drop off, again, don't want to share too many details)
3. Less communication with teachers due to strict drop-off and pick-up policies
3. Maybe masking - I don't know what impact this has had, but she is SO HAPPY to be able to take off her mask

We are also at a center that has had very little COVID - no cases pre-Omicron and then I think 3 or 4 during Omicron that did not spread. I attribute it to being a center that serves a lot of families with parents that can work from home. The same company has a couple of other centers in lower income areas and they have had many, many more cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

I’ve been trying not to bug our director because this is evolving quickly but am worried that the loud mask forever voices are being heard and have been thinking about just politely letting our director know we are in favor of mask optional to kind of keep the balance. Do you think that’s helpful?

This.
I feel it's much easier to email your directors and say let's stick with the status quo (I like what you've been putting out!) Then email and suggesting change after all the crazy of the past two years. The ones in favor of mask optional only policies will be drown out. And while I sympathize with people's Covid fears and children, I also feel that in a world now where everywhere is mask optional, regardless of Vax status, making 2 year olds continue to wear them is insane, given their already low risk rate. But would be fine with it/other precautions during surges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

I’ve been trying not to bug our director because this is evolving quickly but am worried that the loud mask forever voices are being heard and have been thinking about just politely letting our director know we are in favor of mask optional to kind of keep the balance. Do you think that’s helpful?

This.
I feel it's much easier to email your directors and say let's stick with the status quo (I like what you've been putting out!) Then email and suggesting change after all the crazy of the past two years. The ones in favor of mask optional only policies will be drown out. And while I sympathize with people's Covid fears and children, I also feel that in a world now where everywhere is mask optional, regardless of Vax status, making 2 year olds continue to wear them is insane, given their already low risk rate. But would be fine with it/other precautions during surges

FWIW, I’m not sure what made our center switch to optional. I’ve been in favor of this but never actually wrote our daycare directly about it. So I have no idea what kind of email they’ve been getting, but they made the switch to optional with a heavy recommendation to keep masking the under 5s until they could be vaccinated. And judging by what I’ve seen in person and pictures this week, around 90% of the kids are still masked, if not higher. So a very pro-masking group of parents but they still changed the policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

I’ve been trying not to bug our director because this is evolving quickly but am worried that the loud mask forever voices are being heard and have been thinking about just politely letting our director know we are in favor of mask optional to kind of keep the balance. Do you think that’s helpful?

This.
I feel it's much easier to email your directors and say let's stick with the status quo (I like what you've been putting out!) Then email and suggesting change after all the crazy of the past two years. The ones in favor of mask optional only policies will be drown out. And while I sympathize with people's Covid fears and children, I also feel that in a world now where everywhere is mask optional, regardless of Vax status, making 2 year olds continue to wear them is insane, given their already low risk rate. But would be fine with it/other precautions during surges

FWIW, I’m not sure what made our center switch to optional. I’ve been in favor of this but never actually wrote our daycare directly about it. So I have no idea what kind of email they’ve been getting, but they made the switch to optional with a heavy recommendation to keep masking the under 5s until they could be vaccinated. And judging by what I’ve seen in person and pictures this week, around 90% of the kids are still masked, if not higher. So a very pro-masking group of parents but they still changed the policy.

DP I was struck that when we were notified about the mask optional policy, they essentially said masking is "opt in" meaning you have to proactively tell them you want to keep masking your child. This tells me our particular provider does not want to keep masking the children. Why would they? In their shoes I'd rather not be having to fiddle with kids' masks all day - how does that protect the teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

I’ve been trying not to bug our director because this is evolving quickly but am worried that the loud mask forever voices are being heard and have been thinking about just politely letting our director know we are in favor of mask optional to kind of keep the balance. Do you think that’s helpful?

As a Director, yes, I do think that would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, some directors are getting lots of requests from parents to drop the indoor masking.

I'm getting the reverse - the only parents who are contacting me are wanting to keep them - either forever and ever (that ain't happening) or until 4s and under can be vaccinated, or until 4s and under are ALL vaccinated.

so we are all under different pressure.

I’ve been trying not to bug our director because this is evolving quickly but am worried that the loud mask forever voices are being heard and have been thinking about just politely letting our director know we are in favor of mask optional to kind of keep the balance. Do you think that’s helpful?

As a Director, yes, I do think that would be helpful.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

A friend's DC daycare just went mask optional. They did not think it was going to happen so quickly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend's DC daycare just went mask optional. They did not think it was going to happen so quickly!

Can you share which one?