COVID Protocols (Halted)
Like all daycare centres in Ontario, SMCC is required to abide by strict pandemic protocols to help prevent the likelihood of COVID-19 in the centre, as well as to reduce the spread of the virus if a child or employee tests positive.
In accordance with provincial and municipal pandemic guidelines, SMCC has implemented the following protocols:
In accordance with provincial and municipal pandemic guidelines, SMCC has implemented the following protocols:
Wearing Personal Protective Equipment |
All staff are required to wear masks and eye protection such as goggles or face shields at all times when working in close contact with children who are not wearing masks.
|
Screening and Reporting Illness
|
Parents/guardians and SMCC staff are required to take their child’s temperature each morning and report and record the results upon arrival at the daycare entrance. In addition, everyone is required to complete the City of Ottawa Covid-19 Screening Tool and to follow the directions contained in the results after they fill our the assessment tool.
All parents/guardians are required, as soon as possible, to report to the SMCC General Manager if their child or a family member is showing signs of illness (e.g. cough, fever, diarrhea). The SMCC requires a child, who is showing signs of illness and/or has a family member showing signs of illness, to be kept at home, which follows the guidelines outlined in the Ottawa Public Health Self-Isolation Direction. |
Cohorting |
Cohorting is the requirement to maintain distance and limit interaction between children who are in different daycare programs and rooms. SMCC staff are taking steps to ensure that children within the same program only interact with each other throughout their day at the centre. Different programs are never combined and children do not move between the rooms. When the toddlers are required to move through the preschool room to go outside, barriers are in place and SMCC staff direct the children to ensure that the preschool children remain at a distance.
To adhere to the cohorting requirement, the staff are not permitted to work in multiple programs and rooms in a week – once they are assigned to a specific program and room, they remain in that room for that entire week. |
Limiting Access to the Daycare
|
At this time, only staff and the children who attend are permitted to enter the daycare. Parental access may be granted at this time as an exception in consultation with the manager but is otherwise restricted to ensure the safety of the children and staff. As a result, we have established a process to meet children at the entrance of the daycare when they arrive each morning. When picking up, parents/guardians are encouraged to call the daycare before they arrive so we can have the child/children ready to leave when their parent arrives.
|
Cleaning |
Since the onset of the pandemic, SMCC has adopted thorough daily-cleaning practices to sanitize and disinfect high-touch areas, equipment, dishes, bathrooms, toys, and program rooms. We have also removed shared-items that cannot be easily disinfected or cleaned and any toys from play that children usually put in their mouth.
|
Response if child shows signs of illness at the daycare |
In the event that a child shows signs of illness while at the daycare or we become aware of a situation that requires the child to be isolated from others (at the daycare and at home), a plan is in place to immediately move them from their program room. The child will be placed in a separate room under the supervision of a staff member wearing full PPE. Parents/guardians will be contacted and required to pick-up their children within 30 minutes of notification of the signs of illness.
|
Notice of Risk
|
When children from multiple families attend a childcare centre such as SMCC, there is an increased risk of the COVID-19 virus coming into the daycare. Children who are infected with the COVID-19 virus are more likely than adults to have very mild infections or to have no symptoms at all. However, these children can still transmit the infection to others (children and adults) at home and the daycare centre.
It is important to note that despite the best efforts by SMCC to screen the staff and children attending the daycare, a risk still exists when people are asymptomatic (showing no signs of illness, but in fact have COVID-19) at the time of screening. If a person does not have any notable symptoms at the time of screening, SMCC screeners will be unable to detect those who in fact may have COVID-19. |
We know that these are stressful and challenging times, and appreciate everyone’s cooperation to help SMCC staff to prevent COVID-19 from entering daycare-premises.