Childcare Policymakers Advised to Take Extra Precautions Against COVID-19

Rutgers researchers publish new recommendations for safer emergency childcare during the pandemic

Rutgers researchers are recommending policy changes that should be made during the COVID-19 pandemic that will result in safer emergency childcare for parents with essential jobs.

The Rutgers Pediatric Early Education Working Group’s new recommendations reflect a consensus of public health guidelines from the federal government, states and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Rutgers group advises childcare policymakers and administrators to support a set of broad, flexible options that include more care in homes, use of school facilities if needed and smaller group sizes in all care settings to reduce opportunities for spreading the virus. Childcare staff should be screened for risks in work assignments and should follow daily screening procedures for children, families and staff.

It also recommends procedures to reduce the risk of transmission within centers and home care and the development of an information system to monitor and assess how things are going so the childcare system can collect their experiences and learn quickly from them. This is especially important given the level of uncertainty and the rate at which the situation is changing.

Guidance for childcare providers will only be feasible if policy is aligned and adequate funding is forthcoming.

“These precautions are necessary because COVID-19 is easily spread,” said Lawrence Kleinman, a professor and vice chair for Academic Development and director of the Division of Population Health, Quality, and Implementation Sciences in the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “But they’re also necessary to prioritize the safety of these children and families, along with their caregivers and teachers when there is so much we don’t know about the virus.”

“A systemic approach with childcare, Head Start and public schools cooperating is needed,” said Steven Barnett, a Board of Governors professor of education and senior co-director and founder of the National Institute for Early Education Research. “For example, public schools can open their closed buildings for emergency childcare. They have large and open indoor and outdoor spaces, which give children room to play and help teachers to manage social distancing.”

Recommended childcare center protocols include:

• taking temperatures of parents, children and staff before entering the center or home;
• barring entry to anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms;
• eliminating sign-in procedures that potentially spread COVID-19;
• staggering drop-off times and assigning a dedicated staff member to greet each child;
• using appropriate personal protective equipment, especially in infant and toddler care;
• disinfecting equipment after use;
• requiring staff to practice appropriate hygiene and social distancing protocol during working and non-working hours.

Ideally, children of parents who regularly come in contact with COVID-19-infected individuals should be cared for at home—not in a childcare center—and cared for by one adult.

The Rutgers group urges policymakers and providers to collect and use data, which is critical to further learning how to prevent infection in childcare settings and improve these guidelines.

“Data enables us to continuously learn what works and what doesn’t,” said Manuel Jimenez, an assistant professor of pediatrics in PopQuIS and director of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and developmental behavioral pediatrician at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital. “We can then share this new knowledge with childcare providers, who can then put it to use in their day-to-day operations.”

The group’s guidance is available here. Co-authors of the report are Patricia Whitley Williams and Alan Weller at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The Rutgers Pediatrics Early Education Working Group is a collaboration between the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Pediatrics (Divisions of Population Health, Quality, and Implementation Sciences and Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases) and the National Institute for Early Education Research at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.