In Texas, our Governor lifted the mandatory statewide mask order at the beginning of April. However Texas Childcare Licensing had issued "Emergency Orders" in December of 2020 and those orders were not set to expire until April 26th. Childcare licensing did not send anything out to us after the Governor's announcement so we had to continue with the Emergency Orders until they expired. Now that they have expired, we are still waiting on clarification as to whether we have to continue to require masks to be worn inside the building buy adults and teachers. As of this Monday we will no longer require our Pre-School and Pre-K students to wear mask inside the building, but our after-school age students will be required to wear them inside until June 1st, which is when our local district is going to make masks optional in all their school locations. 1/2 our staff have been vaccinated and 1/2 our staff have not. The half that are not vaccinated say they are scared of the vaccine. We have no way of knowing which of our parents have been vaccinated.
Ironically I had a potential new family come this morning for a tour and at the end of the tour, they asked what is our childhood vaccination policy. Their child is 3 years old and has only been partially vaccinated for the standard childhood vaccines and the mother does not want her child to receive the remaining required vaccines. Our policy is that all children must be update on their vaccines when they start with us and must continue to updated on their vaccines through the years as they stay with us. We do not except waivers or exemptions on vaccines. Needless to say, I don't think they will be enrolling with us, but it got me to thinking what is going to happen, once they do develop an approved vaccine for children. If the Feds or States make it mandatory, how many parents will not feel comfortable giving their child the vaccine and where will that leave us if we have to deny them services because of a mandate?
As a licensed program, we have received nothing but conflicting and contradictory information, mandates and orders since day one in March of 2020 from the Feds, State, and local officials as well as other over site organizations related to childcare.
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Tim Kaminski
Director/Owner
Gingerbread Kids Academy
Richmond TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-06-2021 11:37 AM
From: Christina Roseli
Subject: Vaccinated Adults, Unvaccinated Children & Long COVID
I love the balanced perspective in the Unvaccinated Article. We, as early care educators and advocates, need to weigh the long term effects of isolating children. Our highest functioning, well off families have options to help their children cope. But what about our most vulnerable families, and children from families with high stress factors. The mental health of the children needs to take priority as center resume with safety protocols.
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Christina Roseli
ECLS
El Dorado County Library
Oxnard CA
Original Message:
Sent: 05-01-2021 12:52 PM
From: Alan Guttman
Subject: Vaccinated Adults, Unvaccinated Children & Long COVID
Dear Early Care and Education Colleagues,
I hope you and your families are all well.
Below are links to a recent opinion piece in the New York Times and an article in the NewScientist related to vaccinated adults, children and COVID:
What Do You do When the Kids Are Still Unvaccinated by David Leonhardt (Note: this is an OPINION piece that also includes information from medical experts. Access to this piece may or may not be restricted by the NY Times)
Children with Long COVID by Helen Thomson (Note: the article includes research data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control)
As with all things COVID, medical experts, the US Center for Disease Control, and researchers continue to learn about possible COVID risks to and impacts on children. (i.e. we must continue to keep ourselves informed about the latest research and recommendations related to children and COVID)
Be well,
Alan
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Alan Guttman
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