Santiago Torres (left), Porter Varrol (middle) and Gianna Brouwer (right) play in the water at the Hands on Early Learning Centre Feb. 2 as part of playtime. Varrol says she really likes playing in the water. The water has a small amount of bleach to help keep the toys clean.
The Hands on Early Learning Centre, a daycare located inside Lethbridge College, is still up and running and keeping parents happy despite pandemic restrictions.
Sheena Vogt, a parent at the daycare, said she feels the protocols in place are adequate to protect her daughter, Josephine LeMoine and the other children.
“I feel like [the staff are] very careful with [the children]. Cleaning and trying to do everything they can to make sure they’re not getting sick,” Vogt said.
Daycares face specific challenges that some other businesses don’t, due to the ages of the patrons.
At the Hands on Early Learning Centre, children range in age from 19 months to five-years-old, but the Canadian government says children under two years should not wear masks and the youngest age any COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for is five years.
Tobi Horon, the daycare’s director, said staff wear masks, although the children do not and kids are met at the door.
Parents are typically not allowed inside and visitors have been significantly limited.
Parents are also required to fill out a symptom questionnaire for their children and if a child does have COVID-19 symptoms, they are sent home.
Horon said the pandemic has impacted her business due to low numbers of enrollees, around 14 before September 2021 despite having space for 42, but it is now back to full capacity.
“People are really comfortable now doing the rapid test, making sure that they don’t have any symptoms before they come,” Horon said.
Horon also said dealing with the pandemic is difficult with young children, but it’s gotten better and everyone involved is more used to it.
Vogt said she’s still wary of what could happen if a child did go to the daycare sick and how it could affect her whole family because they might have to miss work and school. However, she said she’s more comfortable now than when the pandemic first started.
“I think at the start I was so worried just because it was so unknown. It’s nice to know that Omicron seems like it’s not as severe and the fact that the rest of our family has the booster shot and two vaccines before that,” Vogt said.
Although we’re still in the midst of the pandemic, many parents feel socialization is a necessary risk for their children’s mental health.
“[Josephine] was 19 months by the time we came back out into the world and then it was just time. We couldn’t be at home anymore, it was so bad for both of us,” Vogt said.
At a news conference in early January, the Alberta government announced they would be limiting access to PCR testing due to extremely high demand caused by Omicron.
Premier Jason Kenney said on Feb. 1 he hopes to relax public health restrictions by the end of the month. Most restrictions have been removed, including the mask mandate, effective March 1.
It’s unclear how the pandemic will continue to evolve and how that will ultimately affect children in daycares.