Around me the reputable ones are still hard to get into for infants and harder than ever for older kids because there’s less movement out to PreK and K programs. Some parents are planning on keeping their kids in daycare another year with all the disruption/fears about transition and uncertainty about what pre-K and K will look like next year or if they’ll even happen at public and private schools.

Put myself on a downtown DC federal building daycare waiting list in July 2019; was not off it when my baby was supposed to start in April 2020. They thought I might get off the list some time in the summer or early fall but who knows what COVID-19 is doing to waiting lists. Some people are moving away from daycare (more spots) but also daycare are likely to have lower capacity (fewer spots) and may have gone out of business (very much fewer spots).

i am on two waitlists for daycares in Arlington and have not heard anything from either of them - i think they are both closed - are waitlists moving now??

Anecdotal, but my coworker lives around Balston and was on wait lists for at least four daycares, and ended up getting into all of them. So I think a lot of the "wait lists" are just a scam to get extra deposits, but not a chance I'd be willing to take.