Mask requirements in childcare facilities (MD)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a little ridiculous to expect child care providers to ignore strongly worded recommendations from their licensing body and from the nation's public health authority. Anything goes wrong and they will be blamed. The problem is the guidance, which ultimately comes from the CDC, not child care providers (who are not public health experts) following it.

We are at an in-home daycare and masks have never been required for the kids- I know they've been inspected at least once over the last year with no infractions but does this mean they are out of compliance? I'm confused as they are always strictly adhere to licensing requirements. Now I wonder if they slapped masks on the kids for the inspection.....

In MD it is not required, but it is strongly recommended. MoCo did until recently but I don't know if the licensing inspectors cared. I'm not sure how it was enforced. Our provider is in a County building so I anticipate they will follow whatever guidance there is even if it is not technically required.

Is Montgomery county still providing separate guidance than the state? This must be so confusing for providers.

No, Montgomery County is now following the state.

I don't think this is true for childcares and schools, I think the county is still requiring universal masking there. However, I know of camps in the county who got rid of the outdoor mask requirement, so maybe they aren't subject to the county rule?

Just because you don't believe it, doesn't mean it's not true.

[Anonymous]

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/orders.html

Effective May 28, 2021, Montgomery County follows State of Maryland and Maryland Department of Health COVID-19 requirements. Businesses and workplaces may set their own additional requirements. Submit a Request for Clarification to ask questions about how regulations and guidelines for an activity or event are interpreted.

All Montgomery County pre-pandemic business and activity requirements apply. Visit the Montgomery County Business Portal for information on licences, permits, regulations, and more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a little ridiculous to expect child care providers to ignore strongly worded recommendations from their licensing body and from the nation's public health authority. Anything goes wrong and they will be blamed. The problem is the guidance, which ultimately comes from the CDC, not child care providers (who are not public health experts) following it.

We are at an in-home daycare and masks have never been required for the kids- I know they've been inspected at least once over the last year with no infractions but does this mean they are out of compliance? I'm confused as they are always strictly adhere to licensing requirements. Now I wonder if they slapped masks on the kids for the inspection.....

In MD it is not required, but it is strongly recommended. MoCo did until recently but I don't know if the licensing inspectors cared. I'm not sure how it was enforced. Our provider is in a County building so I anticipate they will follow whatever guidance there is even if it is not technically required.

Is Montgomery county still providing separate guidance than the state? This must be so confusing for providers.

No, Montgomery County is now following the state.

I don't think this is true for childcares and schools, I think the county is still requiring universal masking there. However, I know of camps in the county who got rid of the outdoor mask requirement, so maybe they aren't subject to the county rule?

Just because you don't believe it, doesn't mean it's not true.

Well, that's not what childcare providers are being told, so you would be wise to educate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a little ridiculous to expect child care providers to ignore strongly worded recommendations from their licensing body and from the nation's public health authority. Anything goes wrong and they will be blamed. The problem is the guidance, which ultimately comes from the CDC, not child care providers (who are not public health experts) following it.

We are at an in-home daycare and masks have never been required for the kids- I know they've been inspected at least once over the last year with no infractions but does this mean they are out of compliance? I'm confused as they are always strictly adhere to licensing requirements. Now I wonder if they slapped masks on the kids for the inspection.....

In MD it is not required, but it is strongly recommended. MoCo did until recently but I don't know if the licensing inspectors cared. I'm not sure how it was enforced. Our provider is in a County building so I anticipate they will follow whatever guidance there is even if it is not technically required.

Is Montgomery county still providing separate guidance than the state? This must be so confusing for providers.

No, Montgomery County is now following the state.

I don't think this is true for childcares and schools, I think the county is still requiring universal masking there. However, I know of camps in the county who got rid of the outdoor mask requirement, so maybe they aren't subject to the county rule?

Just because you don't believe it, doesn't mean it's not true.

Well, that's not what childcare providers are being told, so you would be wise to educate yourself.

Just because providers are getting wrong advice doesn’t mean anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. The masks at outdoor drop off and pick up for parents is irritating theatre but I’d gladly do that forever if they would just let these kids run around outside with no masks. My center won’t even do water play because it would mean no masks outside. I hate this so much.

NP- same, and get this. I brought up the concern with masks on hot days, and their solution is to eliminate outside time on those days. They think it's better to keep the kids inside with masks on rather than let them play outside without! It's insane. We move at the end of the summer so I'm just buying my time at this point.

This is horrible. I hope kids get some relief soon from this- it's excessive and absurd at this point. I moved to a southern red state during the pandemic- it has a lot of faults, but I'm very grateful that kid masking has not been something we've had to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. The masks at outdoor drop off and pick up for parents is irritating theatre but I’d gladly do that forever if they would just let these kids run around outside with no masks. My center won’t even do water play because it would mean no masks outside. I hate this so much.

NP- same, and get this. I brought up the concern with masks on hot days, and their solution is to eliminate outside time on those days. They think it's better to keep the kids inside with masks on rather than let them play outside without! It's insane. We move at the end of the summer so I'm just buying my time at this point.

This is horrible. I hope kids get some relief soon from this- it's excessive and absurd at this point. I moved to a southern red state during the pandemic- it has a lot of faults, but I'm very grateful that kid masking has not been something we've had to deal with.

You just have kids getting lots of covid then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this up- curious if anyone's providers have shifted their mask policy following Hogan's announcement last week? It's been crickets at ours, masks still required inside and out and presumably no change on July 1.....

Child Care center worker here - We reached out about whether or not this applied to us, and OCC said until we hear otherwise from THEM, that we have to continue to wear masks. So as soon as they know, we will know, and then the parents will know.

YES. Thank You. The people on this page think they know what we have to go through with our licensing department. We have had only one COVID case so it must be working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC attends a center in MD. There's been a bit of a kerfuffle because some (presumably vaccinated) parents haven't been wearing masks when dropping kids at the door in the morning (outside). So the director recently sent a reminder saying all parents and kids over 2yo need to stay masked as kids aren't eligible for the vaccine, and that this policy is required by the MSDE Office of Child Care. I've been a little bit irritated about the kids having to continue to wear masks during outside time to begin with but I'm not even sure what she is saying is true. I thought MSDE *recommended* masks from ages 2-5 as tolerated, but never actually required them. I know of several in-home daycares that don't require masks on the kids at all. But now I can't find anything on the MSDE child care website that outlines their mask policy. I'm sure I'm just missing it but does anyone know? I also wonder if it's evolved at all since last spring?

Your director is correct. I work in a Maryland preschool and as much as we don't like the rules, we have to abide by them. We are governed by the MSDE OCC (Maryland State Department of Education Office of Child Care) and still as of TODAY, preschools MUST continue to wear masks indoors. We also have to continue to wear them outside if we cant remain socially distanced. We have emails from our licensing dept. at MSDE that we are not privy to the same rules as the schools, and "they" will let us know if we can also take our masks off after July 1st. Just as you have to follow the rules at YOUR job, we must do the same at ours, and just because some parents don't like the rule doesn't mean we are going to risk OUR license and OUR job and OUR livelihood to cater to people who can't follow rules. We don't like the rules either.

With all due respect, are you getting different information from your licensing specialist than what is printed in this document? Because it only says masks are “recommended” for ages 2-4. And that’s totally fine if you want to follow that recommendation, but that’s different than being required to follow a “rule.”

https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/system/files/filedepot/3/covid_guidance_full_080420.pdf

And I’m not understanding about the “they” you are waiting to hear from regarding the change in policy July 1. Didn’t hogan specifically mention child cares in addition to schools?

It’s amazing that everyone seems to be on completely different pages here.

Welcome to Child Care in Montgomery County! This is the wording right from the webpage:
Face coverings must be worn inside
Public transportation
Schools
Health care settings
Youth camps
Childcare facilities
some County offices and facilities (clinics, correctional facilities, homeless shelters)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure the child care office can control me as an adult not employed by a business they license. They can control my kid and the teachers, but I wonder about me.

That said, is this the hill you want to die on? Is it worth destroying a relationship with the people who care for your child every day? It’s 60 seconds of drop off. Suck it up and play along with meaningless mask-wearing.

OP here- it's not, if I were to choose a hill to die on right now it would be for letting the kids play outside unmasked. I just wish they would be honest and say it's *their* policy rather than deflect. Either they're deliberately lying or don't understand what the state actually requires.

Really? Why would a center deliberately lie about a MASK POLICY. That just sounds ridiculous. Clearly, they are following the rules put out by their governing body. It sounds like they do understand what the state requires, but you on the other hand, do not. Read up, then complain once they actually do something wrong.

The guidance document was posted on the previous page- did you bother to read it?

Yes, we did! There is guidance from Moco, OCC, Health Dept., MSDE, CDC - have you read them all? SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. The masks at outdoor drop off and pick up for parents is irritating theatre but I’d gladly do that forever if they would just let these kids run around outside with no masks. My center won’t even do water play because it would mean no masks outside. I hate this so much.

NP- same, and get this. I brought up the concern with masks on hot days, and their solution is to eliminate outside time on those days. They think it's better to keep the kids inside with masks on rather than let them play outside without! It's insane. We move at the end of the summer so I'm just buying my time at this point.

This is horrible. I hope kids get some relief soon from this- it's excessive and absurd at this point. I moved to a southern red state during the pandemic- it has a lot of faults, but I'm very grateful that kid masking has not been something we've had to deal with.

You just have kids getting lots of covid then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC attends a center in MD. There's been a bit of a kerfuffle because some (presumably vaccinated) parents haven't been wearing masks when dropping kids at the door in the morning (outside). So the director recently sent a reminder saying all parents and kids over 2yo need to stay masked as kids aren't eligible for the vaccine, and that this policy is required by the MSDE Office of Child Care. I've been a little bit irritated about the kids having to continue to wear masks during outside time to begin with but I'm not even sure what she is saying is true. I thought MSDE *recommended* masks from ages 2-5 as tolerated, but never actually required them. I know of several in-home daycares that don't require masks on the kids at all. But now I can't find anything on the MSDE child care website that outlines their mask policy. I'm sure I'm just missing it but does anyone know? I also wonder if it's evolved at all since last spring?

Your director is correct. I work in a Maryland preschool and as much as we don't like the rules, we have to abide by them. We are governed by the MSDE OCC (Maryland State Department of Education Office of Child Care) and still as of TODAY, preschools MUST continue to wear masks indoors. We also have to continue to wear them outside if we cant remain socially distanced. We have emails from our licensing dept. at MSDE that we are not privy to the same rules as the schools, and "they" will let us know if we can also take our masks off after July 1st. Just as you have to follow the rules at YOUR job, we must do the same at ours, and just because some parents don't like the rule doesn't mean we are going to risk OUR license and OUR job and OUR livelihood to cater to people who can't follow rules. We don't like the rules either.

With all due respect, are you getting different information from your licensing specialist than what is printed in this document? Because it only says masks are “recommended” for ages 2-4. And that’s totally fine if you want to follow that recommendation, but that’s different than being required to follow a “rule.”

https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/system/files/filedepot/3/covid_guidance_full_080420.pdf

And I’m not understanding about the “they” you are waiting to hear from regarding the change in policy July 1. Didn’t hogan specifically mention child cares in addition to schools?

It’s amazing that everyone seems to be on completely different pages here.

Welcome to Child Care in Montgomery County! This is the wording right from the webpage:
Face coverings must be worn inside
Public transportation
Schools
Health care settings
Youth camps
Childcare facilities
some County offices and facilities (clinics, correctional facilities, homeless shelters)

The OCC guidance states that masks must be worn in childcare by everyone ages 5 and up. And they are strongly recommended for children 2-5. The OCC is a STATE agency. The County is following the STATE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure the child care office can control me as an adult not employed by a business they license. They can control my kid and the teachers, but I wonder about me.

That said, is this the hill you want to die on? Is it worth destroying a relationship with the people who care for your child every day? It’s 60 seconds of drop off. Suck it up and play along with meaningless mask-wearing.

OP here- it's not, if I were to choose a hill to die on right now it would be for letting the kids play outside unmasked. I just wish they would be honest and say it's *their* policy rather than deflect. Either they're deliberately lying or don't understand what the state actually requires.

Really? Why would a center deliberately lie about a MASK POLICY. That just sounds ridiculous. Clearly, they are following the rules put out by their governing body. It sounds like they do understand what the state requires, but you on the other hand, do not. Read up, then complain once they actually do something wrong.

The guidance document was posted on the previous page- did you bother to read it?

Yes, we did! There is guidance from Moco, OCC, Health Dept., MSDE, CDC - have you read them all? SMH

I thought MoCo is now deferring to the state- is that not the case? Does the county have yet another executive order on this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC attends a center in MD. There's been a bit of a kerfuffle because some (presumably vaccinated) parents haven't been wearing masks when dropping kids at the door in the morning (outside). So the director recently sent a reminder saying all parents and kids over 2yo need to stay masked as kids aren't eligible for the vaccine, and that this policy is required by the MSDE Office of Child Care. I've been a little bit irritated about the kids having to continue to wear masks during outside time to begin with but I'm not even sure what she is saying is true. I thought MSDE *recommended* masks from ages 2-5 as tolerated, but never actually required them. I know of several in-home daycares that don't require masks on the kids at all. But now I can't find anything on the MSDE child care website that outlines their mask policy. I'm sure I'm just missing it but does anyone know? I also wonder if it's evolved at all since last spring?

Your director is correct. I work in a Maryland preschool and as much as we don't like the rules, we have to abide by them. We are governed by the MSDE OCC (Maryland State Department of Education Office of Child Care) and still as of TODAY, preschools MUST continue to wear masks indoors. We also have to continue to wear them outside if we cant remain socially distanced. We have emails from our licensing dept. at MSDE that we are not privy to the same rules as the schools, and "they" will let us know if we can also take our masks off after July 1st. Just as you have to follow the rules at YOUR job, we must do the same at ours, and just because some parents don't like the rule doesn't mean we are going to risk OUR license and OUR job and OUR livelihood to cater to people who can't follow rules. We don't like the rules either.

With all due respect, are you getting different information from your licensing specialist than what is printed in this document? Because it only says masks are “recommended” for ages 2-4. And that’s totally fine if you want to follow that recommendation, but that’s different than being required to follow a “rule.”

https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/system/files/filedepot/3/covid_guidance_full_080420.pdf

And I’m not understanding about the “they” you are waiting to hear from regarding the change in policy July 1. Didn’t hogan specifically mention child cares in addition to schools?

It’s amazing that everyone seems to be on completely different pages here.

Welcome to Child Care in Montgomery County! This is the wording right from the webpage:
Face coverings must be worn inside
Public transportation
Schools
Health care settings
Youth camps
Childcare facilities
some County offices and facilities (clinics, correctional facilities, homeless shelters)

The OCC guidance states that masks must be worn in childcare by everyone ages 5 and up. And they are strongly recommended for children 2-5. The OCC is a STATE agency. The County is following the STATE.

Ok, but that is NOT what childcare providers are being told by the licensing specialists. And they are the ones we answer to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this up- curious if anyone's providers have shifted their mask policy following Hogan's announcement last week? It's been crickets at ours, masks still required inside and out and presumably no change on July 1.....

Child Care center worker here - We reached out about whether or not this applied to us, and OCC said until we hear otherwise from THEM, that we have to continue to wear masks. So as soon as they know, we will know, and then the parents will know.

YES. Thank You. The people on this page think they know what we have to go through with our licensing department. We have had only one COVID case so it must be working.

I’m not really following what changes July 1 then. Why make an announcement and then not provide any follow up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this up- curious if anyone's providers have shifted their mask policy following Hogan's announcement last week? It's been crickets at ours, masks still required inside and out and presumably no change on July 1.....

Child Care center worker here - We reached out about whether or not this applied to us, and OCC said until we hear otherwise from THEM, that we have to continue to wear masks. So as soon as they know, we will know, and then the parents will know.

YES. Thank You. The people on this page think they know what we have to go through with our licensing department. We have had only one COVID case so it must be working.

I’m not really following what changes July 1 then. Why make an announcement and then not provide any follow up?

It depends what county you live in.