Ohio Governor Mike DeWine today announced steps to ease restrictions on daycare centers that have kept some parents from going back to work.
Starting August 9th child care providers will have the option to either return to full capacity, or keep the reduced ratios of children to staff that they have now and receive a subsidy from the state. Governor Mike Dewine says that initially, reducing the number of children in a center made it easier to follow strict health guidelines - but that many children were squeezed out of care altogether.
"We know that children cannot learn unless they're safe. And without access to childcare parents may resort to less than safe options because they have no choice for their childcare. That might include relying on an elderly grandmother or grandfather. Normally everything would be fine except today they're at a much greater risk for COVID."
DeWine says all childcare facilities will still need to follow state guidelines on staff wearing masks, sanitizing surfaces and taking temperatures on arrival and departure. He says there have 342 cases of been COVID-19 traced back to childcare facilities, but only about a quarter of the cases appear to have been transmitted in the facility. Since the beginning of June the state has paid out about $30 million dollars a month in subsidies to keep facilities afloat.
The Ohio Association of Child Care Providers says easing restrictions on capacity will help serve the 285,000 Ohio children in need of day care.
