Virus hits Tassie childcare centres

CHILDCARE centres are feeling the pressure from the latest Covid wave with pandemic related short staffing forcing the closure of a Glenorchy centre for four days.

The Benjafield Child Care Centre in Moonah reopened on Monday after parents were notified on July 11 that the centre would be closed because several educators had tested positive to Covid and other winter illnesses.

It’s one of two childcare centres owned by the Glenorchy City Council. The council would not confirm how many staff or children at the centre tested positive.

“As a result, the centre did not have the staffing levels to continue providing care,” a Glenorchy council spokesperson said.

“Parents and carers were notified and the decision was made to close the centre temporarily. When possible, staff work with families to find alternative care places.”

The spokesperson said there was a Covid safety plan in place at both centres.

“These protocols continue to guide decision making and prioritise the health and safety of the children, families and child care staff,” they said.

At Lady Gowrie, CEO Mat Rowell said with a resurgence in Covid cases, short staffing had been an issue, but centres and rooms had stayed open.

“Whilst we’ve managed to keep our rooms open, it’s been done very tightly,” Mr Rowell said.

“I think we’re lucky we have plenty of staff, we can float around if we need to.

“That would difficult for smaller centre.”

Lady Gowrie has 560 staff across 20 long day care centres and 24 outside school hours care centres.

Mr Rowell said while they’ve managed to keep afloat, there have still been challenges.

“Staff morale has been tough because we’ve had busy times, there’s extra pressure on the staff that are there,” he said. “Staff get pretty tired and run down and that’s a morale issue we’ve had.

“One of the challenges have been some families have been reluctant to send their children and we’ve had to provide things like fee waivers because they’ve been in isolation.”

The childcare provider has a mandatory vaccination policy and educators wear masks indoors.

Mr Rowell said staff were well practised when it came to dealing with the pandemic.

“I think we know what we need to do, we know how to handle it,” Mr Rowell said.

“We’ve got pandemic leave for staff, if there’s a positive case, you let families know and you fill the gap.

“Now that close contacts are no longer having to isolate that’s making a difference, that’s helpful and we have daily testing for those guys.”

It comes as 1642 new cases were reported on Tuesday, with 184 patients in public hospitals testing positive, 55 of which are being treated specifically for Covid.

All of Tasmania’s major public hospitals are operating at level 3 escalation, which means changes to some elective surgeries and reduced visitor hours.