Child Care Health Alert 
 COVID-19 Updates -- December 21, 2020

Thank You for All You Do

As we wrap up a year filled with anxiety and uncertainty, we want to acknowledge all of our child care providers, teachers, directors, and support staff for providing so much love and care for our community’s youngest residents during the pandemic. Your work has allowed parents to continue to work and our community to continue to function. The staff of Snohomish Health District thank you for being flexible as the guidance has evolved, for changing your practices to keep the children and your staff safe, and for working cooperatively with us to help curb the spread of this disease. We appreciate you. 

Isolation and Quarantine 

We recognize it can be confusing to keep up with the COVID-19 isolation and quarantine recommendations, particularly as they change or evolve. As a reminder,  

• Confirmed and/or probable cases should isolate for 10 days -- and have symptoms improving and no fever for at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medications -- prior to ending isolation. Asymptomatic cases should isolate for 10 days since the date of the positive COVID-19 test.
• A household member of a confirmed or probable case should quarantine for the 10 days of the case’s isolation period plus an additional 14 days. The reason for this is that household members may be exposed at any point, up to the last day of the case’s infectious period. The family members must then quarantine an additional 14 days to make sure they do not unwittingly pass the infection to others.
• A close contact of a confirmed or probable case (not a household member) should quarantine for 14 days from the date of last contact with that case. While the CDC provides some options for a shorter quarantine period for use in certain situations, the Snohomish Health District continues to advise a 14-day quarantine. Due to the high transmission rate we are seeing in our county, as well as the increased risk of spreading the virus with a shortened quarantine period, we are adhering to the safest option and best practice of a 14 day quarantine for the majority of close contacts. Alternatives can be discussed on a case by case basis with the Snohomish Health District disease investigator.

 
You can get more information about the quarantine guidance by reading this Snohomish Health District blog post. 

COVID-19 Reminders 

• Please continue to screen children and staff for illness before allowing to enter care. Don’t allow anyone, even with minor symptoms (such as a runny nose), into care or work. Keep parents out of classrooms.
• Keep small and consistent group sizes (i.e. not letting groups mix even during outdoor play time or at the beginning or end of the day).
• Avoid use of float staff to cover breaks. If staffing does not allow for one extra staff member in each room and a float staff must be used, avoid having that person go into every room (i.e. use different persons for different rooms), maintain more distance between staff and kids, wear a face shield in addition to a 3-ply procedure mask, and use the float staff when kids are outside if possible.
• Have you set up WA Notify on your phone? For more information about this tool and to sign up click here. This is another tool to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Updated Decision Chart for Exclusion

When children and staff develop symptoms of COVID-19, they should be excluded from child care. The Washington State Department of Health has updated its decision flow chart to make it easier to understand.


Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

If you have questions about what level of PPE child care staff should be wearing, please contact the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (LNI) directly. They have a consultation service that can work through scenarios with you and give you the appropriate guidance for your situation. For more information, click the LNI Consultation Request. 


Vaccine Updates

As you have likely heard, the COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Washington State. This is encouraging, and a reminder that it is not time to relax our efforts to slow the spread of the virus. We can see some light at the end of the tunnel, but we still must make our way through the tunnel, which will take some time.  For more information, see a blog posted last month from the Snohomish Health District, Five Things to know about COVID vaccine planning. Child care providers and school teachers are currently slated to receive the vaccine in Phase 2, but  look for a Phase Finder link coming soon to our website as this could change. Additional information can be found on the Washington State Department of Health website.

Please contact the Child Care Health Outreach Program 
if you have any questions:

childcarehealth@snohd.org
425-252-5415