COVID-19 - PREVENTION PLAN

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise we need to ensure the health and safety of our staff & children.

 

With this in mind, we have decided to implement the following heightened routines.

We will be increased handwashing routines; this includes:
– full handwashing routine for school-agers returning from school
– full handwashing routine for all children coming in from outside or as they arrive for the day
– wear gloves for serving food
– increase toys & equipment sanitation & disinfecting
– washing/sanitizing all ‘hot-spots’ ie: door knobs, buttons, windows in doors, taps etc…
-We will be sending home ALL water bottles and move to disposable cups and water jugs in every room
-Any field trips will be cancelled until further notice
-Soothers must be delivered in a labelled bag and will return in same



We have just sent this email to all parents:

TRAVEL ADVISORY
With March Break fast approaching we wanted to address any travel plans you may have.

If you have plans to travel over the break, please reference the link provided for places currently highly at risk for COVID-19.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/latest-travel-health-advice.html#ath
Even if someone in your household; an acquaintance or family member has travelled to a high risk area, we need to be informed.

Also, we ask that anyone travelling anywhere, advise your campus supervisor.

STEPS BEING TAKEN IN HOUSE
Corporately we are implementing heightened procedures regarding general sanitation and hygiene.
–          Increased handwashing procedures with the children

–          We will be sending home ALL water bottles and move to disposable cups and water jugs in every room

–          Any field trips will be cancelled until further notice

–          Soothers must be delivered in a labelled bag and will return in same

Our teachers are also planning educational activities and experiments around proper hygiene to engage the children in this process.

If your child exhibits any flu-like symptom we would ask you keep them home until you are sure they are symptom free to return.

Thanks you for helping keep our children healthy!

COVID-19 - PREVENTION PLAN... NEWS & UPDATES

Dear Parents:

As this situation continues to reveal itself daily we will do our best to keep you all informed.

As a daycare, inspected by the Durham Region Health Department on a regular basis, we adhere to specific sanitation policies already. I wanted to inform all parents of what we do on a regular basis and what our increased measures are right now as we address the concern in the community. I realize that this virus in Canada isn’t what it is elsewhere but that doesn’t mean we aren’t paying attention to it and we have taken action to ensure we are protecting our campus’s and children from any such outbreak.

We sent out an email to all families last week (see below) and will copy these into flyers to also distribute in the classrooms to ensure everyone is being updated.

I am including the link below to the Durham Region website for other questions you may have – this is specific to attending ‘school’ scenarios.

Should my child attend school <https://www.durham.ca/en/health-and-wellness/novel-coronavirus-update.aspx?_mid_=26424#Should-my-child-attend-school>

Here are some frequently asked questions and advise as posted on the Region’s website.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness in humans ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.

A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. In some cases, illness caused by novel coronavirus can be mild. In more severe cases, the novel coronavirus can cause pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, severe influenza-like illness, kidney failure and even death.

COVID-19 can be spread from person to person through:

•Close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands.

•Contact with nose and throat secretions (e.g., coughing and sneezing).

•Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands.

It is currently not known how long COVID-19 can survive outside of the body on a surface.

Signs and symptoms may include fever and/or respiratory symptoms such as:

•cough

•shortness of breath

•breathing difficulties

If you are concerned about symptoms, contact your health care provider and wear a mask when attending medical appointments.
To reduce the spread of germs, including COVID-19 and the flu we recommend that you:

•Wash your hands often with soap and water or hand sanitizer when hands are not visibly dirty.

•Cough or sneeze into your sleeve or elbow and encourage others to do the same.

•Wash your hands after handling nose and throat secretions (e.g. after throwing out used facial tissues).

•Avoid touching your face and clean hands before touching eyes, nose or mouth.

•Clean and disinfect surfaces, especially those that are high-touch areas.

•Do not share water bottles, straws, eating utensils, cigarettes, toothbrushes, toys or anything else that has been in contact with saliva, nose or throat secretions.

•If you are ill, stay at home and keep yourself away from others.

•Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.

•If you are ill and must visit a healthcare provider, call ahead or tell them right away when you arrive that you have a respiratory illness and wear a mask while waiting to be seen.

The World Health Organization does not recommend the use of face masks for individuals who are not sick as there is no evidence to suggest a benefit. Individuals with respiratory symptoms should wear a mask when attending medical appointments.
As always, children should be kept home from school if:

•they have a fever higher than 37.5°C.

•they are throwing up or having diarrhea.

•their eyes are pink and crusty.

•they have a cough that keeps them awake.

•they have a sore throat.

Durham Region Health Department is working closely with our local school boards to make sure all information is shared in a timely manner and that routine prevention practices (e.g. cleaning/disinfecting, handwashing, staying home when ill etc.) are being used in the school environment.

I assure you, we are taking this situation very seriously and doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our campuses.

Thank you,

Marcy Cowan
Director

1.  We have an Illness Surveillance procedure that we follow daily to log any and all ill-health symptoms of children in each classroom. This information is collected for the Health Department.

We have a specific form that we log any Ill-health symptoms of children so we know when we are in an outbreak situation. An outbreak is the same illness in 3 or more children within one room. Since COVID has become a situation about a month ago we have been watching those symptoms more closely as they relate to COVID-19 and would escalate/report based on each and every suspected case (as opposed to the regular 3 or more..).

2.  Proper Hand-washing Techniques <https://www.youtube.com/watch?  – this technique is taught to all children in the centre by staff. The posters can be visible at every hand-washing station in both of our campuses.

** we have increased our hand-washing for both staff and children. We are incorporating hand-washing and general hygiene into our curriculum in various ways to engage the children in this process.

3.  Outbreak Control <https://www.youtube.com/watch?  – we have detailed processes to observe and respond to in an event of an outbreak. If we were in an outbreak situation, postings would go up on all entry doors, parents would be emailed directly and called if it were a direct threat to their child.

4.  Cleaning & Disinfecting Practices <https://www.youtube.com/watch?  – We follow these procedures regularly

5.  Sanitary Policy – see attached. We have staff read and sign this policy when they start employment with us and annually thereafter but it doesn’t stop there. We review all of our policies; one by one at staff meetings throughout the year. We have mandatory staff meetings monthly so it is reviewed at least once a year in addition to the annual sign off. Also, we do mock learning sessions at meetings where we quiz staff members on their knowledge of these policies.

6.  Travel Advisory – we have asked all families to report to us of ANY TRAVEL AT ALL, not just of themselves but of family or friends that might have come in contact with themselves or their children. Any travel to a CDC reported “ HOTSPOT”https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/after-travel-precautions.html  would result in a self-quarantined period of 2 weeks.

7.  We are asking all parent to pay attention to the symptoms listed in red below to ensure you are being immediately responsive to any ill health.

NEW POLICIES

Supervision of Children

General Sanitary Precautions

Daily Health Check

Children Who Become Ill-During Care Exclusion FINAL June29.20

Priority Wait List Placement 1