{"id":32937,"date":"2020-06-11T05:31:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T10:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=32937"},"modified":"2020-06-10T17:31:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T22:31:58","slug":"oklahoma-child-care-leaders-share-how-theyve-dealt-with-positive-covid-19-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/06\/11\/oklahoma-child-care-leaders-share-how-theyve-dealt-with-positive-covid-19-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma child care leaders share how they\u2019ve dealt with positive COVID-19 cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_32942\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-32942\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-1920x1280.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-672x448.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-620x413.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7312-1620x1080.jpeg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Robby Korth \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign at St. Luke&#8217;s Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. A child who attended the church&#8217;s Children&#8217;s Center was the first person younger than 4 to contract COVID-19 in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/34266111-dc96-4147-9729-056f56dc81be?dark=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The call from the health department still sticks in Gabrielle Moon\u2019s mind.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was a positive case of the coronavirus at St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Center.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was really scary\u201d said Moon, the center\u2019s executive director. \u201cIt was very scary.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was early in the early stages of the pandemic &#8211; March 13 was the last day the child had attended class. The positive case at St. Luke\u2019s was the first one for a child in Oklahoma.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So Moon went to church leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32943\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 316px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-32943\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-672x672.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"316\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-672x672.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-1920x1920.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-620x620.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-1080x1080.jpeg 1080w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-32x32.jpeg 32w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-50x50.jpeg 50w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-64x64.jpeg 64w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-96x96.jpeg 96w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-128x128.jpeg 128w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-1472x1472.jpeg 1472w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-1104x1104.jpeg 1104w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-912x912.jpeg 912w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-550x550.jpeg 550w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon-470x470.jpeg 470w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/Gabrielle-Moon.jpeg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 316px) 100vw, 316px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy St. Luke&#039;s Methodist Church<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gabrielle Moon, Executive Director of St. Luke&#8217;s Child Care Center.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first thing they wanted to do was listen to local health officials.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey gave us explicit instructions of how to deal with it,\u201d Moon said. \u201cThey said you have to send everybody home. You have to make them quarantine for two weeks\u2026. The classroom has to be completely cleaned and scrubbed from top to bottom.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next step was communicating with parents and teachers. Moon said they called each parent in the affected classroom to let them know what happened. Then, the center sent out a letter to all parents. They continued sending out regular communications for weeks.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur best bet here was to have good communication with our parents and with the staff here and let them know exactly what was going on,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32941\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-32941\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-1920x1280.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-672x448.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-620x413.jpeg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7293-1620x1080.jpeg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Robby Korth \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play on a playground at St. Luke&#8217;s Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3><b>Child care<\/b> as<b> essential business<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, life is almost entirely back to normal at St. Luke\u2019s.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A tour of the facility revealed children playing, snacking on monkey bread and having stories read out loud to them. Field trips won\u2019t be happening this year, but Moon said teachers are bringing exploration of the world into class through curriculum.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Temperature checks are still the standard, but parents are again allowed to walk their kids back to classrooms. And teachers dress\u00a0 like they normally do for a day. They aren\u2019t wearing masks.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is how child care is looking in many facilities, says Rachel Proper, Vice President at Child Care Inc., which has 6 centers across the Oklahoma City metro.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe wanted children to have that routine and sense that life is still normal while I\u2019m at child care,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But creating that normalcy is a financial challenge. At St. Luke\u2019s, about 100 of 650 kids left their programs. Hundreds of children left the Child Care Inc., centers, Proper said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They\u2019re starting to trickle back in as the state reopens, but it\u2019s not enough to make up for the lost revenue. Protections from the government helped, including paycheck protection loans, said Proper, who is also an industry advisor for the Oklahoma Child Care Association board. But federal supports that mostly went to paying for kids actually enrolled rather than making up costs of children dropping out made life difficult.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s been a nailbiter for sure,\u201d Proper said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the course of the pandemic 565 centers with the capacity to serve more than 30,000 kids went dormant, according to DHS spokeswoman Casey White. There are 2,987 centers in the state.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of those that closed, 192 have reopened. And many more are Head Start programs, that are typically closed during the summer months but have been allowed to reopen by federal authorities, White wrote.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe still have not seen any [permanent] closures related to COVID-19, and expect to see more of these inactive programs become active again as the state reopens,\u201d White wrote in an email.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She also wrote that DHS is planning to keep dialogue open with centers and continue issuing guidance.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDecisions made during this time, are not easy decisions and they are not made lightly,\u201d White wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_32938\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-32938\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-672x369.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-672x369.jpeg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-1920x1055.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-768x422.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-150x82.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-300x165.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_7246-620x341.jpeg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Robby Korth \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign on a classroom door at St. Luke&#8217;s Children&#8217;s Center in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>What the future holds<\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summer is normally a busy time at child care centers. Enrollment goes up as parents take kids off for the summer there when they can\u2019t go to school.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Proper says this summer feels different as parents continue to work at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But there\u2019s an even bigger question about what centers will look like in the fall.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen we are looking at varying school schedules and the possibility of those children being in our childcare programs more during the week is I think the bigger question right now on all of our minds,\u201d Proper said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Varying school schedules are likely statewide. Last week, the State Department of Education released its lengthy Return to Learn Plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A guidance document, nothing in the plan is set in stone. But instead, districts are supposed to use it to help make local determinations.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As they shape their plans, one place to look would be child care centers, Moon and Proper said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Things like consistent temperature checks, limits of where classes go and even eating meals in classrooms are already done in centers. And the actions taken when a case was found were disruptive, but the coronavirus is here to stay. So people just need to stay vigilant, Moon of St. Luke\u2019s said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s bound to spike again,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The call from the health department still sticks in Gabrielle Moon\u2019s mind.There was a positive case of the coronavirus at St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Center.\u201cIt was really scary\u201d said Moon, the center\u2019s executive director. \u201cIt was very scary.\u201dThis was early in the early stages of the pandemic &#8211; March 13 was the last day the child [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":32940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32937"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32948,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32937\/revisions\/32948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}