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COVID-19 public health guidance for child care settings

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Author: 
BC Ministry of Health
Format: 
government document
Publication Date: 
19 May 2020
AVAILABILITY

The link to the guidance is no longer available. Please refer to the attached PDF.

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PDF icon BC-covid-19-pho-guidance-childcare.pdf439.11 KB

EXCERPTS

This guidance document is informed by BC’s Restart Plan: Next Steps to Move BC Through the Pandemic and the BC COVID-19 Go-Forward Management Strategy, and is also in keeping with BC’s COVID-19 Go-Forward Management Checklist and information on WorkSafe BC’s COVID-19 Information and Resources and COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions websites.

This document provides interim guidance for child care services to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and maintain safe and healthy environments for children and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies key infection prevention and control practices to implement in child care settings and actions to take if a child or staff member develops symptoms of COVID-19.

Based on the current epidemiology of COVID-19 in B.C., and the fact that children are at a much lower risk of developing COVID-19, child care providers are encouraged to remain or re-open, while supporting the health and safety of children and adults. Child care services should adapt as much as possible to implement public health and infection prevention and control measures, including staying home when ill, physical distancing, minimized physical contact, hand hygiene, frequent cleaning and disinfection, as described in this guidance.

Child care services are also encouraged to update their policies for children or staff who have symptoms of a common cold, influenza or COVID-19 or other infectious respiratory diseases to remain at home. Children or staff may return to the centre once they are assessed by their family physician or nurse practitioner and it is determined that they do NOT have COVID-19, and their symptoms have resolved.

For information on operating child care services during COVID-19, including on applying for Temporary Emergency Funding, child care providers and parents should visit the BC Government’s Child Care Response to COVID-19 page. For up-to-date general information on COVID-19, please visit the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) website.