How will new mask rules affect child care centers?

Child care providers are working through what lapsing statewide mask requirements may mean for them.

State officials recommended last week that a statewide mask mandate in school and child care settings come to an end on Feb. 28. The plan is still contingent on a legislative process but would leave the choice up to education leaders and localities.

How those decision-makers respond only time will tell, but it could result in a patchwork of policies — especially in the child care industry, made up of many independent small businesses.

“The state won’t have a mask mandate, but the programs can make up their minds,” said Commissioner of Early Childhood Beth Bye. “What we will still do is provide guidance. We’re very much aligned with CDC in our guidance, and have been and will continue to be.”

The Office of Early Childhood and state Department of Public Health mask recommendations will take into account various COVID metrics and that children under 5 years old are still ineligible for the vaccine. But the final call will ultimately be up to providers.

Bye said she anticipates the recommendation will be continued masking, for the time being. “The majority of programs I’m hearing from plan to keep it in place until the transmission comes down,” she added.

A preliminary count of 339 child care students and 66 staff reported new COVID-19 infections to the state from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, according to the latest unpublished data, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media. The figures marked a 72 and 83 percent decrease, for children and adults respectively, since cases peaked in midJanuary.

“There’s not a question that the months of December and January were the most reported cases in child care, period, over the whole pandemic,” Bye said.

In the next several weeks, many providers will consult with state officials, public health experts, industry colleagues — and top of mind, the staff they employ and families they care for.

“I have some parents that feel very strongly about the mask,” said Tara Kennedy, the owner and director of Cedar Gables Preschool & Childcare in Danbury. “There’s strong opinions on both sides.”

Kennedy suggested that “since the beginning” of the pandemic her north star has been transparency with her parents, whether that is related to COVID protocols or classroom exposures. The child care provider has not set a policy for when the statewide requirement expires yet, but recognizes each family has their own approach to parenting or virus considerations and vulnerabilities at home.

“You’ve got this huge array of different circumstances, different families,” she said. “So my gut reaction is to put it back into the hands of the families.”

Cathy Vanicky, the owner and director of Honey Bear Learning Center in Stratford, said she is also thinking about her young students and how they could benefit from a mask-optional policy.

“Seeing you smile, they smile back,” Vanicky said. “They need to see our faces, they need to see our expressions. They need to see how our lips form the sound so they can mimic us.”

If parents want their children to continue wearing masks, Vanicky said she could respond to those wishes and give the kids reminders. And if they choose to mask at the beginning, some families could change their minds and grow more comfortable with the potential new policy, like they did when the center first reopened after the initial pandemic wave.

“Certain families were ready to come back, and certain families wanted to see it — how’s it working, how’s it going,” she said. “The same things will happen with masks.”

Following Gov. Ned Lamont’s announcement this week, Bye said the Office of Early Childhood sent out a message to the 4,000 licensed child care businesses in the state, from in-home to center-based programs.

“When the statewide mask requirement is no longer in effect, the OEC will continue to strongly recommend that providers implement public health policies and procedures consistent with CDC recommendations. This includes mask wearing, quarantine and isolation, social distancing, and ventilation,” the guidance read.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reaffirmed its position on universal masking in schools, as CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Reuters “now is not the moment” to drop the requirement.

“We have and continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission — that is essentially everywhere in the country in public indoor settings,” Walensky said.