Page 60 - Choosing a Child Care Center

LETY CARVAJAL, M.ED.

is in place to protect the school community. It is also
common for centers to ask family members to keep
their children home and quarantine if anyone in their
household has recently been directly exposed to or
tested positive for COVID-19. COVID-19 quarantine
periods regularly change, so always contact your local
health department for their most updated exposure
and quarantine guidelines.
While by nature, children are exposed to a high-
contact environment while attending child care, there
are certain cleaning sanitation procedures that cen-
ters should follow to help contain the spread of
germs, such as: frequently cleaning children’s toys
and surfaces and paying special attention to high-
touch areas like doorknobs and entrances, following a
sanitization schedule to ensure that no areas are
missed or overlooked, having a limit as to how many
visitors may be allowed in the building at a given
time, and hand sanitizing stations placed throughout
the school and playground areas.
It is important to note that the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes a clear
distinction between cleaning and sanitizing, and the
center that you are considering should be able to
explain their daily procedures to you for both. Clean-
ing physically removes germs, dirt, and impurities
from surfaces or objects by using soap (or detergent)
and water. This process does not necessarily kill

48