B.C.鈥檚 licensed daycare centres will remain open for now even as the province moves to suspend all K-12 classes due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Premier John Horgan said his government based its decision on the advice of provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and the need for health-care workers and other front-line service to have access to child care.
鈥淎t this time, it鈥檚 business as usual, but families should be ready and trying to make plans for changes immediately if we get new information,鈥� Horgan said.
That鈥檚 in contrast to the position taken by a number of other provinces. Alberta has closed all licensed daycares, while Manitoba announced Tuesday that its licensed daycares would close by the end of Friday.
The organizations that represent child-care operators and educators are questioning B.C.鈥檚 鈥渄ouble standard鈥� of protecting students and teachers in the regular school system while leaving daycares open.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to make sure that the children in our care and the teachers who teach in those spaces are safe and healthy,鈥� said Amanda Worms of the B.C. Child Care Owners Association.
鈥淭hat is the No. 1 concern right now, because as it stands, we just don鈥檛 understand how one sector is not safe and the other sector is.鈥�
Worms noted that Henry has advised against gatherings of 50 or more people yet the total number of children and staff at some daycare centres exceeds that number.
As well, Worms said pre-school children in daycares are incapable of practising social distancing.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e barely able to keep their fingers out of their mouths for three seconds let alone be expected to maintain distance.鈥�
In addition, she said many child-care providers have been unable to obtain the materials needed to sanitize their facilities due to the run on goods and supplies since the outbreak began.
As a result, Worms said, there鈥檚 an outcry among early childhood educators who feel like they鈥檙e being put at risk after being neglected for years.
鈥淣ow they鈥檙e being asked to basically come in as the heroes to keep our medical system open, when they can鈥檛 even get paid a proper wage,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o we have a lot of frustrated, frustrated teachers.鈥�
Henry told reporters Tuesday that government officials are working on a daycare strategy similar to the one developed for the K-12 system.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working in the same way for daycares to make sure that we can keep the daycare safe, that it鈥檚 safe for the staff and the families and the children, but also that we can make sure that we have that essential service available for our essential workers as well,鈥� she said.
Henry said the strategy will be released 鈥渋n the coming days.鈥�
In addition, Education Minister Rob Fleming said he expects school districts and independent schools 鈥渨ill have plans in place to maintain some level of service for children of people who are performing essential services on the front line,鈥� such as doctors, nurses, paramedics and pharmacists.
