• CDC updates safety guidelines for child care facilities,
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday updated its guidance for child care programs during the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of mask-wearing for everyone 2 years of age and older, as well as air ventilation and other strategies.
“Early last year, CDC released initial guidance for child care programs during COVID-19. As we learn more about the virus, CDC experts updated that guidance several times throughout 2020,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing Friday.
“Today, CDC is again releasing updated guidance based on the most recent science,” Dr. Walensky said. “That science includes additional evidence showing that, when used consistently and correctly, prevention strategies such as mask-wearing, staying home when sick, and good hand hygiene can allow child care programs to operate safely and reduce the spread of COVID-19.”
Dr. Walensky added, “I also want to stress that our child care guidance emphasizes the importance of COVID-19 vaccination as an additional layer of prevention for child care workers. I strongly encourage America’s child care workers to get vaccinated.”
Last week, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services directed COVID-19 vaccine providers to make vaccine doses available to education and child care workers.
The child care guidance, updated on the CDC’s website Friday, notes that “even after child care providers and staff are vaccinated, there will be a need to continue prevention measures for the foreseeable future, including wearing masks, physical distancing and other important prevention strategies outlined in this guidance document.”
The guidance recommends that everyone in a child care setting 2 years of age and older should wear a mask, except when eating or sleeping. Masks should not be a substitute for physical distancing, and CDC does not recommend face shields or goggles as a substitute for masks.
The guidance “also highlights strategies such as cohorting, where groups of children are kept together with the same peers and staff to reduce the risk of spread throughout the program,” Dr. Walensky said.