Daycare closures- still charging?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Who has mandatory quarantines for kids under 5? They’re not required in Maryland or Montgomery County. Quarantines are only required for outbreaks.

Yes, many providers are refusing to meet their obligations under their enrollment agreements, but don’t blame that on the heath regulations.

Our daycare has shut down entire classrooms repeatedly for single cases (mostly teachers, although I believe there have been 3 children with positive cases in the past 22 months). There's been no spread amongst the children or staff. Classes were shut down for 14 days at first, but now that is down to 10 days. We've been told that this is the instruction provided to daycare from the health department. We are in Loudoun.
Something has to give with this. We had an outbreak of RSV last summer (5 toddlers in one room), and no one shut down for that.

I’m not as familiar with Virginia regulations, but I know there are no requirements for quarantines in Maryland/MoCo for single cases. Providers still suggesting quarantines are required, but that simply isn’t true. I strongly suspect that's the case in Virginia. The health department likely doesn't have any authority unless there is an outbreak involving multiple, epidemiologically-linked cases. And the state/county child care regulations likely just say providers must follow the legal orders from health departments.

This is OP. The daycare is in Montgomery County. One child has covid, no teachers or other students. Health Department apparently advised them to stay closed for what amounts to 10 week days. I'm tempted to call BS that the center director actually talked to the health department if what you're saying is true.

Let me try to explain the process and legal/regulatory requirements here.

Child care centers are required to follow state and local health regulations. At this point, there are no specific health regulations for covid, other than a requirement to report the case to the local health department. The local health department has the authority to order quarantines (or other health measures), but only in the case of an outbreak. In Montgomery County, an outbreak is defined as 3 epidemiologically linked cases in a single classroom, or 5 linked cases throughout a center, over a 14-day period.

When there's a case, the child care center calls a DHHS number and leaves a message with an operator telling them which center they're with and the number of cases. At some point, the center should get a call back, but it might not be for many days later. If the center reported 3 or more cases, DHHS will open an investigation and report it to the state Department of Health. In those cases, the center should get a call back fairly quickly. In those instances, the health department will almost certainly instruct the center to close the relevant classroom. If the center refuses, they would likely get a letter ordering them to shut down the classroom. If they continue to refuse, this would be interpreted as a violation of child care regulations by the local licensing office.

If there was just a single case, then the center might not hear back from DHHS for days or weeks. Someone in the contract tracing office will likely recommend some sort of quarantine. The specific recommendation depends on the person you're talking to, since they may or may not tell you about shortened quarantine options or the option to skip quarantine in favor of symptom monitoring. Regardless, these are merely recommendations, not orders, and providers are not required to follow them for licensing purposes.

Does that make sense? I mean, obviously the process is absurd and doesn't make any sense, but did the description itself make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Who has mandatory quarantines for kids under 5? They’re not required in Maryland or Montgomery County. Quarantines are only required for outbreaks.

Yes, many providers are refusing to meet their obligations under their enrollment agreements, but don’t blame that on the heath regulations.

Our daycare has shut down entire classrooms repeatedly for single cases (mostly teachers, although I believe there have been 3 children with positive cases in the past 22 months). There's been no spread amongst the children or staff. Classes were shut down for 14 days at first, but now that is down to 10 days. We've been told that this is the instruction provided to daycare from the health department. We are in Loudoun.
Something has to give with this. We had an outbreak of RSV last summer (5 toddlers in one room), and no one shut down for that.

I’m not as familiar with Virginia regulations, but I know there are no requirements for quarantines in Maryland/MoCo for single cases. Providers still suggesting quarantines are required, but that simply isn’t true. I strongly suspect that's the case in Virginia. The health department likely doesn't have any authority unless there is an outbreak involving multiple, epidemiologically-linked cases. And the state/county child care regulations likely just say providers must follow the legal orders from health departments.

This is OP. The daycare is in Montgomery County. One child has covid, no teachers or other students. Health Department apparently advised them to stay closed for what amounts to 10 week days. I'm tempted to call BS that the center director actually talked to the health department if what you're saying is true.

I can personally attest that this is true. I am also a daycare and spoke to the health department last week due to in class exposure and we are also closed for 10 days. Call BS all you want and feel free to call the health department. Ask to speak to the same person so you have your answer. Trust me, dealing with COVID is not fun. But you know what is worse than COVID? Parents who think we are trying to pull a fast one on them.

I believe that you think you were told you need to quarantine the other kids. But that is because the contact tracing office you report cases to isn’t being clear and you haven’t stayed up-to-date on the formal policies and regulations from MSDE and MoCo’s DHHS.

Quarantining for individual cases has always been a recommendation, not a requirement. The March 2nd memo from MSDE/MDH finally makes that explicit, but it was true before that if you knew to ask DHHS whether they were making a recommendation versus a legal order.

And obviously DHHS isn't issuing quarantine orders, since you don't hear back from them for several days if you only report a single case. Back in January we wouldn't hear back from them until after the other kids' quarantine periods would have already been over.

I don't fault you for being confused. DHHS has made this intentionally difficult to understand, as has the Office of Child Care. But I do fault you for spreading misinformation that quarantines are required. They're not. The state and county have both confirmed that.

I don’t think I was told- I was told.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Who has mandatory quarantines for kids under 5? They’re not required in Maryland or Montgomery County. Quarantines are only required for outbreaks.

Yes, many providers are refusing to meet their obligations under their enrollment agreements, but don’t blame that on the heath regulations.

Our daycare has shut down entire classrooms repeatedly for single cases (mostly teachers, although I believe there have been 3 children with positive cases in the past 22 months). There's been no spread amongst the children or staff. Classes were shut down for 14 days at first, but now that is down to 10 days. We've been told that this is the instruction provided to daycare from the health department. We are in Loudoun.
Something has to give with this. We had an outbreak of RSV last summer (5 toddlers in one room), and no one shut down for that.

I’m not as familiar with Virginia regulations, but I know there are no requirements for quarantines in Maryland/MoCo for single cases. Providers still suggesting quarantines are required, but that simply isn’t true. I strongly suspect that's the case in Virginia. The health department likely doesn't have any authority unless there is an outbreak involving multiple, epidemiologically-linked cases. And the state/county child care regulations likely just say providers must follow the legal orders from health departments.

This is OP. The daycare is in Montgomery County. One child has covid, no teachers or other students. Health Department apparently advised them to stay closed for what amounts to 10 week days. I'm tempted to call BS that the center director actually talked to the health department if what you're saying is true.

I can personally attest that this is true. I am also a daycare and spoke to the health department last week due to in class exposure and we are also closed for 10 days. Call BS all you want and feel free to call the health department. Ask to speak to the same person so you have your answer. Trust me, dealing with COVID is not fun. But you know what is worse than COVID? Parents who think we are trying to pull a fast one on them.

I believe that you think you were told you need to quarantine the other kids. But that is because the contact tracing office you report cases to isn’t being clear and you haven’t stayed up-to-date on the formal policies and regulations from MSDE and MoCo’s DHHS.

Quarantining for individual cases has always been a recommendation, not a requirement. The March 2nd memo from MSDE/MDH finally makes that explicit, but it was true before that if you knew to ask DHHS whether they were making a recommendation versus a legal order.

And obviously DHHS isn't issuing quarantine orders, since you don't hear back from them for several days if you only report a single case. Back in January we wouldn't hear back from them until after the other kids' quarantine periods would have already been over.

I don't fault you for being confused. DHHS has made this intentionally difficult to understand, as has the Office of Child Care. But I do fault you for spreading misinformation that quarantines are required. They're not. The state and county have both confirmed that.

I don’t think I was told- I was told.

I think they told you that the other kids should quarantine and you interpreted that as legal order rather than a recommendation. How did they phrase it? Because the health department has been very clear that they can’t and won’t order a quarantine for a single case.

[Anonymous]

So, is the problem here really that child care providers don’t understand the difference between the word “should” and “must”?

Where did they get this idea that they were required to follow the recommendations of the health department? Particularly when the entity that regulates child care— MSDE— says providers and private schools are free to establish their own policies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Yawn. Don’t like the policies? Quit and stay home.

If only there was an agreement signed at the time of enrollment that described the conditions that would close the center or keep a child out of the center…

Oh wait, nearly every provider has such an agreement. And nearly none of them let the provider just shut down because they feel like it while continuing to charge parents (and potentially not paying staff).

Providers should follow the agreement. Keep centers open unless the health department orders them to close due to an outbreak. Kids that don't meet exclusion criteria should be allowed to attend.

Cool story, sis. Again for the slow people, don't like what they're doing? Quit and stay home. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Yawn. Don’t like the policies? Quit and stay home.

If only there was an agreement signed at the time of enrollment that described the conditions that would close the center or keep a child out of the center…

Oh wait, nearly every provider has such an agreement. And nearly none of them let the provider just shut down because they feel like it while continuing to charge parents (and potentially not paying staff).

Providers should follow the agreement. Keep centers open unless the health department orders them to close due to an outbreak. Kids that don't meet exclusion criteria should be allowed to attend.

Cool story, sis. Again for the slow people, don't like what they're doing? Quit and stay home. Problem solved.

Yes, who needs moms in the workforce? It's not like there is a labor shortage or anything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Yawn. Don’t like the policies? Quit and stay home.

If only there was an agreement signed at the time of enrollment that described the conditions that would close the center or keep a child out of the center…

Oh wait, nearly every provider has such an agreement. And nearly none of them let the provider just shut down because they feel like it while continuing to charge parents (and potentially not paying staff).

Providers should follow the agreement. Keep centers open unless the health department orders them to close due to an outbreak. Kids that don't meet exclusion criteria should be allowed to attend.

Cool story, sis. Again for the slow people, don't like what they're doing? Quit and stay home. Problem solved.

Yes, who needs moms in the workforce? It's not like there is a labor shortage or anything!

There's a small, but vocal, contingent on dcum that thinks that people shouldn't have kids unless they're able to hire a full-time nanny.

And also a surprising number that seem to think there should always be a stay-at-home parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Yawn. Don’t like the policies? Quit and stay home.

If only there was an agreement signed at the time of enrollment that described the conditions that would close the center or keep a child out of the center…

Oh wait, nearly every provider has such an agreement. And nearly none of them let the provider just shut down because they feel like it while continuing to charge parents (and potentially not paying staff).

Providers should follow the agreement. Keep centers open unless the health department orders them to close due to an outbreak. Kids that don't meet exclusion criteria should be allowed to attend.

Cool story, sis. Again for the slow people, don't like what they're doing? Quit and stay home. Problem solved.

How ridiculous to expect a business charging hundreds of dollars per week to actually satisfy their responsibilities under the contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Yawn. Don’t like the policies? Quit and stay home.

If only there was an agreement signed at the time of enrollment that described the conditions that would close the center or keep a child out of the center…

Oh wait, nearly every provider has such an agreement. And nearly none of them let the provider just shut down because they feel like it while continuing to charge parents (and potentially not paying staff).

Providers should follow the agreement. Keep centers open unless the health department orders them to close due to an outbreak. Kids that don't meet exclusion criteria should be allowed to attend.

Cool story, sis. Again for the slow people, don't like what they're doing? Quit and stay home. Problem solved.

DP. My family needs my income. Oh, and I also love my job.
How very privileged of you that you can just quit and stay home whenever you please.

[Anonymous]

Quit and stay at home? Ever hear of single moms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to end the ridiculous 14 day quarantine for children under 5. There have been numerous instances in our daycare (masked 2-5 year olds) where a child went home with covid-symptoms and waited for a PCR test for 5-7 days while the rest of the class continued and the PCR came back positive and the class started quarantining on day 5-7. Do you know how many times someone got covid? Zero. I would be very surprised if there was any "science" that said 14 day resulted in fewer infections that 10 day or 5 day or test to stay. Two years into this our politicians continue to make fear based decisions about young children.

Yawn. Don’t like the policies? Quit and stay home.

If only there was an agreement signed at the time of enrollment that described the conditions that would close the center or keep a child out of the center…

Oh wait, nearly every provider has such an agreement. And nearly none of them let the provider just shut down because they feel like it while continuing to charge parents (and potentially not paying staff).

Providers should follow the agreement. Keep centers open unless the health department orders them to close due to an outbreak. Kids that don't meet exclusion criteria should be allowed to attend.

Cool story, sis. Again for the slow people, don't like what they're doing? Quit and stay home. Problem solved.

DP. My family needs my income. Oh, and I also love my job.
How very privileged of you that you can just quit and stay home whenever you please.

I'm pretty sure you're responding to a troll. No rational personal would think working parents could simply quit their jobs.

[Anonymous]

Mine has a policy. Less than 1 week closure for some reason, still charge. If they close for 5 consecutive days (1 week), they would not charge.

[Anonymous]

It is part of our parent handbook that if our daycare is closed for more than 3 days we are refunded. We received money in March of 2020 for days we paid and didn’t go to and didn’t pay during the rest of closure. When we closed for 5 days in January for snow we received a refund. However this is an outlier and our daycare is connected to a larger religious organization. We feel very lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, is the problem here really that child care providers don’t understand the difference between the word “should” and “must”?

Where did they get this idea that they were required to follow the recommendations of the health department? Particularly when the entity that regulates child care— MSDE— says providers and private schools are free to establish their own policies?

Yup. No ability to distinguish between should and must. And idiot parents with severe paranoia. At this point we should just kick people out who test positive - why are you testing at all?

[Anonymous]

I just think the daycare wanted a two week paid vacation. At this point in the game, 10 days for 1 case is rididuclous.