Private nurseries and daycare centres are likely to be crippled by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for a long time to come, according to several child care operators who have spoken to Barbados TODAY.
The number of children who will be allowed to attend nurseries when they reopen is to be greatly reduced, with authorities looking to impose a similar space restriction as it has done with churches.
While churches and faith-based organizations were given the green light to reopen from this week, a density protocol has been enforced of a minimum of 40 square feet per person.
One owner told Barbados TODAY that in a virtual meeting which was held last month with private daycare owners, officials from the Ministry of Health and Child Care Board (CCB), while no definitive distance was given they were told infants would have to practise physical distancing.
But the owner said the requirement would deal a significant financial blow to those businesses, as it would mean fewer children being able to attend those nurseries and less income.
The daycare owner said this would lead to layoffs as she would be unable to keep her full complement of staff under those conditions.
She also contended that in the case of small children it would be almost impossible for them to social distance with their playful personalities.
The owner told Barbados TODAY: “We understand how serious COVID-19 is and that the authorities are trying to prevent another wave of infections, but it would be very difficult for us to operate in a scenario where we have to keep the children a certain distance apart from each other.
“Most of the daycare centres are not big enough to be able to accommodate large numbers if that restriction was to be enforced. In my case, it would mean that I would probably only be able to accept around half or possibly less, of the number of children I had before COVID-19.
“Sorry to say I would also have to layoff some of my staff because with less money coming in I wouldn’t be able to pay all of them.”
She said some of the other changes proposed were for children to be changed before entering the nursery as well as mandatory temperature checks at the dropoff and collection points.
She said staff at the nurseries would also have to change their own clothing upon entering.
Another nursery owner told Barbados TODAY there were also some fears regarding the number of children they would see once they reopened.
She said there was a general feeling that parents would be reluctant to send their children to a nursery for fear of contracting COVID-19.
She explained: “There is a strong belief that only those parents who have no choice are going to bring their children to nursery. People are still very cautious about COVID-19 and they may feel more comfortable having a family member or friend keep their child while they are at work.
“It’s going to be really hard on owners because we have been shut down for over two months with no money. We don’t qualify for unemployment benefits and in some cases we are renting and the landlords are still expecting us to pay rent, even though we are not using the space.”
Chief Director of the CCB Joan Crawford told Barbados TODAY while she was not in attendance at that meeting, the CCB would be following the guidelines as set out by the Ministry of Health.
“We would not be able to determine density or anything like that. We will be following directions from the Ministry of Health and the committee that is tasked with looking at that,” she said.
Exactly a week ago, Attorney General Dale Marshall announced several changes in the move to Phase 4, including the reopening of all retail stores, restaurants for in-house dining and churches, among others.
While gyms, bars and daycare centres are among those still closed, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said discussions were still continuing surrounding a possible date for the reopening of nurseries.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb
