Policy
Kids Come First Child Care Services (Kids Come First) is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for children, families and employees. Kids Come First will take every reasonable precaution to prevent the risk of communicable diseases within all our locations.
Purpose
To ensure that all employees are aware of, and adhere to, the directive established by York Region Public Health regarding the exclusion of sick children in all Kids Come First Child Care Programs. All employees, students and any other persons that enter the premise and engage in the programs must adhere to the following procedures.
Procedures
As required by the Child Care and Early Years Act (CCEYA), Kids Come First must separate children of ill health and contact parents/guardians to take the child home. Parents are expected to pick up ill children as soon as possible, but preferably within one hour. When children are ill and/or exhibit COVID-19 related symptoms, child care employees will ensure the following:
- Ill children will immediately be separated from all other children to the designated exclusion room, and will be supervised and monitored by an employee until they are picked up from care by a parent/guardian. Notify parents/caregivers of the sick child for pick up right away.
- If the isolation room has a window, it should be open during the isolation of a child/adult.
- Only one employee should be in the room and maintain physical distance of 6 feet from the child wherever possible. Another employee will stand outside the door to support the employees and child.
- Employees should wear full PPE (a mask, gloves, a disposable gown and eye protection.) In addition, employees should perform hand hygiene and attempt not to touch their face with unwashed hands
- If possible, a mask should be placed on the ill child, but only if the child is able to understand that they cannot touch it. Masks will not be provided to any child under the age of two.
- Symptoms of illness will be recorded in the child’s daily record and in a daily log as per the CCEYA.
- Contaminated items belonging to the symptomatic child are sent home immediately in a tied up plastic bag.
- Tissues should be provided to the child for proper respiratory etiquette, with proper disposal of the tissues
- Wearing full PPE, an employee will clean and disinfect the area immediately after the child has been sent home. The contaminated isolation room, washroom (if applicable) and any equipment/toys used will be sanitized with a high level disinfectant. The program room the child was in and any toys and equipment used will also be sanitized. Any paper items (e.g. books) the child has used will be sealed in a bin for 7 days. Disinfecting of the isolation room/washroom/equipment will be documented in a cleaning log.
- Employees will dispose of any waste in a bag and seal it before disposing it in the bin. Used PPE must be removed and disposed of immediately after sanitizing.
- If it appears that the child requires immediate medical attention, the child will be taken to the hospital by ambulance and examined by a legally qualified medical practitioner or a nurse registered under the Health Disciplines Act. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 262, s. 34 (3).
If you suspect a child has symptoms of a reportable communicable disease (refer to Public Health guidelines for Common Communicable Diseases), please report these immediately to York Region’s Control of Infection Unit (1-877-464-9675 ext 73588).
When to exclude
Childcare employees should exclude a sick child when the child has any signs and/or symptoms that are not pre-existing (greater than normal) or if the child is unable to participate in regular programming because of illness. If the child is known to have symptoms such as seasonal allergies and those symptoms can be attributed to that known condition, a child would not be excluded.
Children exhibiting symptoms of ill health such as fever, coughing, shortness of breath or loss of smell or taste should be referred for further medical assessment. In additional, parents can also refer to their medical practitioner for advice. If a medical practitioner indicates that the child is well enough to attend the program, Kids Come First would accept the child (and any siblings) into the program, if a medical note is provided AND the child is symptom free for 24 hours.
Should the medical practitioner recommend a COVID-19 test be completed, the child must be excluded until they receive a negative COVID-19 test and the symptoms have not returned for 24 hours. A medical practitioner may also require a sibling or household contacts to isolate and complete a COVID-19 test.
Parents who choose not to have a child complete the COVID-19, test when it is recommended or required, will be excluded from the program for a minimum of 14 days AND can only return if the child is symptom free. Siblings may be excluded for the same period if the child is a probable case and has symptoms of ill health.
- If the child care program is located in a shared setting (for example in a school), follow public health advice on notifying others using the space of the suspected illness.
- The Cohort will be informed to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days through a notice posted for families at the screening table.
- During this period of monitoring, they should avoid contact with vulnerable persons or settings where there are vulnerable persons (i.e., long-term care homes)
Children and employees who were exposed to the sick child should be identified as a close contact and will continue to be cohorted and monitored. Public Health can be contacted to provide any further direction on testing and isolation of close contacts if it is suspected that the child has been exposed to a probable or confirmed positive case of COVID-19. If Public Health does not recommend that a cohort be excluded, employees and children who were in the same room with the ill child will be grouped together and not mixed with other care groups for 14 days.