Alberta child-care centres need COVID-19 supports like schools, operator says

Some child-care operators and parents say Alberta's youngest citizens have become an afterthought in the province's management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And with the Omicron variant now reportedly spread widely, some parents are contemplating keeping their preschool-age children home.

Last week, Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange promised medical-grade masks and rapid testing kits to school-age children and teens after they return to class Jan. 10.

Michelle Hynes-Dawson, vice-president of community and digital engagement for the YMCA of Northern Alberta, says child-care organizations are missing out on some of the infection control tools afforded to schools. 

"If supports are being given to schools, really consider whether child care could benefit from those supports as well," Hynes-Dawson said.

Children younger than five are ineligible to be vaccinated.

Hynes-Dawson said child-care centres could also use provincial financial assistance to help cover some of the overtime costs of dealing with staff shortages.

Finding qualified early childhood educators was difficult before the pandemic, she said.

If more staff become ill with the Omicron variant or have to isolate due to exposures, some of the YMCA's 56 child-care programs will have to temporarily close, she said.

Daycares, like schools, are also losing a source of information.

The Alberta government's list of known COVID-19 outbreaks, last updated Dec. 21, lists 11 child-care and out-of-school programs as having outbreaks.

On Dec. 31, Alberta Health Services (AHS) paused contact notification and case investigation in daycares and schools.

"We are currently facing a variant that is so infectious, and spreads so quickly, that individual case and contact management will not be effective," AHS spokesman Bruce Conway said in an email Monday.

Last Friday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said it was no longer necessary to "document the majority of cases in order to have an effective surveillance system."