SICK POLICY - COVID-19 | My Vxw Site 2lzvyb

Elizabeth's Daycare and Preschool Center Families and Staff

Elizabeth's Daycare and Preschool Center top priority has always been to provide safe and healthy school environments for your children. We understand that COVID-19 has raised concerns for you and your families, as well as the wider community. Therefore, we have created this page to share the measures we are taking to keep your children, their families, and the faculty members safe. We want to provide you with the information you need to make the best decisions for yourself and your loved ones. We are grateful for your continued trust and confidence in Elizabeth's Daycare and Preschool Center. We believe that by working together and remaining focused on doing the right things, we will get through this situation.

SCHOOL OPERATIONS

Elizabeth's Daycare and Preschool Center follows the guidance and directives from The Department of Early Education Care and Comewalth of Massachusetts and our local health departments. Many of the children enrolled in our program have family members playing essential roles in this crisis, including parents who work as nurses, doctors, lab pharmacists, and more.

In addition to Elizabeth's own rigorous health and safety protocols, we're reinforcing CDC-recommended preventative measures, which we describe below.

HOW WE'RE KEEPING YOU SAFE

Nothing is more important to us than our children, families, and faculty's health and safety. That's why we've been working hard to implement additional policies and procedures to keep our program as clean and germ-free. Teachers are tested once a week (Mondays) with a rapid test. Teachers must wear a mask when any symptoms are developed, regardless of vaccination status.

Updated Health & Safety Procedures

As always, we put safety first to protect our families and staff.

The health and safety of your child has never been more top-of-mind for you, and for us. Rest assured, when your child is in our program (pandemic or not) all EDPC teachers and staff are trained on health and safety practices we’ve developed to set a new standard in child care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to follow the latest guidance from medical advisors, state and local health departments, and the CDC.

To learn more about what to expect at your location, contact your center director. The center director will be able to share the most current and accurate community-specific guidelines regarding daily drop-off and pick-up, masking, quarantining, and more.

Find current news and resources about getting your family vaccinated against COVID-19.

Still need your vaccine? Curious about vaccines for kids? Find vaccination resources by Mass State.

Know when to keep your child home from child care.

Stay home if you’re sick. If your child has felt unwell or displayed symptoms of COVID-19, we ask that all household members stay home until they’ve been symptom-free without medication for at least 24 hours. Classrooms will only be open to teachers and students who are well. Currently, we ask families to help us lower exposure in our centers by remaining outside the classrooms.

Covid-19 Test and Stay

Isolation and exposure guidance and protocols

Guidance for Children and Staff in Child Care:

Quarantine is no longer required nor recommended for children or staff in these settings, regardless of vaccination status or where the exposure occurred. All exposed individuals may continue to attend programming as long as they remain asymptomatic. Those who can mask should do so until Day 5, and it is recommended that they test on Day 6 of exposure. If symptoms develop, follow the guidance for symptomatic individuals, below.
Children and staff who test positive must isolate for at least 5 days. If they are asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving and they have been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medicine for 24 hours, they may return to programming after Day 5 with a negative Covid-19 test.

If the individual is able to mask, they must do so through Day 5.
If the individual has a negative test on Day 5 or later, they do not need to mask.
If the individual is unable to mask, they may return to programming with a negative test on Day 5 or later.

Symptomatic individuals can remain in their school or program if they have mild symptoms, are tested immediately onsite, and that test is negative. Best practice would also include wearing a mask, if possible, until symptoms are fully resolved. For symptomatic individuals, DPH recommends a second test within 48 hours if the initial test is negative.

If the symptomatic individual cannot be tested immediately, they should be sent home and allowed to return to their program or school if symptoms remain mild and they test negative, or they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and their symptoms are resolving, or if a medical professional makes an alternative diagnosis. A negative test is strongly recommended for return.

Masks

We follow CDC guidance and/or the guidance of local agencies like our licensing agency EEC, when it comes to masks in our centers. Masks are optional unless local guidance states otherwise. Teachers are tested once a week (Mondays) with a rapid test. Teachers must wear a mask when any symptoms are developed, regardless of vaccination status. In addition, we highly recommend that infant teachers and staff wear a mask in our nursery area. We absolutely support those who choose to continue wearing masks in our centers, even if they aren’t required.