COVID testing remains rare at day cares

Every employee at Ellis Early Learning, an early childhood education and care provider serving more than 250 kids in the Boston area, is tested weekly for the coronavirus. The free screening has paid off: In part by detecting positive cases early, Ellis has managed to avoid internal spread at its centers since it started regular testing about a year ago.

The screening, possible through a statewide child care program, has proved especially valuable given the omicron-driven surge in cases – as well as the challenge of working with young children who struggle to maintain social distance and wear masks.

“It feels like no one is really safe anymore,” Ellis CEO Lauren Cook said. “You’re working with an unvaccinated child population – wiping their noses, wiping their bottoms, drying their tears.”

A negative test brings “peace of mind,” Cook said, and a positive one helps to contain the virus – often before an infection is symptomatic. About a quarter of Ellis’ students opted into the testing program.

Such large-scale, regular testing remains rare in the child care sector 21 months into the pandemic. The idea is gaining traction as omicron works its way into communities and families fight to keep their kids in classrooms, which at the early learning level often stay open during winter break.

“Every time a classroom of 12 kids has to close down because of an outbreak, that’s at least 12 parents who can’t go to work,” said Sarah Muncey, co-president and chief innovation officer of Neighborhood Villages, an organization that advocates for early education reform. If “we have multipronged testing strategies … we can ... keep child care and, therefore, the economy open.”

The Biden administration has made a big push for testing in K-12 schools. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data endorsing the use of a practice called test-to-stay. Students who are exposed to the virus can remain in school if they test negative at least twice in the week after exposure. The CDC had previously recommended quarantines for those exposed.