The economic logic is simple: Our state can’t reopen, and parents can’t go back to work, if they don’t have day care.
It was the last to close, and is now the first to reopen, starting June 15th. All states are moving toward this, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has offered guidelines that are supposed to help, but seem wildly unrealistic. Can a toddler really wear a mask?
What about the touching, bumping, and slobbering that are inevitable?
Remember: New Jersey made serious mistakes at its nursing homes, and that inflamed the spread of this virus. With humility, the governor needs to approach this threshold with more care.
The kids are less vulnerable to the virus than the rest of us, in general, but they can spread it. And some children will fall very ill.
This screams out for caution. If you don’t need to put your child in day care, it may be wise to wait a month or two and see how this works out. If your household includes people who are elderly, or vulnerable for other health reasons, that goes double.
“On paper, the guidelines appear appropriate and thought out, but in the real world of children in day care they are risky at best,” says Sen. Joseph Vitale, chairman of the health committee.
The Murphy administration doesn’t seem to be taking this risk seriously. It hasn’t consulted outside experts, and its reassurances on existing day cares that remained open for essential workers are not convincing.
Mistakes could be costly, and a leading pediatric researcher at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is sounding off alarms. “They are asking people to make decisions that have a certain level, and in some cases, a significant level of risk,” Dr. Lawrence Kleinman says.
Here are a few things that we can do to reduce the danger, where possible.
First: Warn the public. If you live with an older relative or chronically ill person, like a diabetic, the state should tell people to think twice about returning to day care. Many will have no choice. But they should at least be aware of the risk.
“I’m doing research now on the issue of children’s role in transmission – I can tell you that my impression is that kids play an important role in transmitting this virus,” Kleinman said. “How would you feel if you were a 10-year-old kid and you came to understand that you brought the virus home to your grandparent, who died? How would that be for the rest of your life?”
Second: Do surveillance. It must extend beyond kids and staff to their families and other contacts, and be more than just temperature screening. We need regular testing, starting with staff and overseen by experts, say Kleinman and Dr. Stanley Weiss, an epidemiology professor at Rutgers School of Public Health, and professor of medicine at its medical school.
The state health department says day cares are private businesses, and there’s nothing preventing them from doing testing. But the state has no plans to require or oversee this, to ensure lessons are gleaned.
Third: Reduce the opportunity for superspreading. We’re doing more than the CDC, which recommends keeping the same people together every day in small groups, at least 6 feet apart. Our state increased this to 10 feet. But why not give providers their own hotline for advice on other questions, like ventilation?
The state offers some reassurance by noting that day care centers that have remained open to serve essential workers have not reported outbreaks. But they don’t really know that.
“You can’t find what you’re not looking for,” Kleinman said. “And if the people who are getting sick as a result are one or two people removed, how would it get linked to the child?”
It may be the right decision to reopen, and safer than we know. But that doesn’t mean we can have confidence in the state. Mistakes in nursing homes cost too many lives. Let’s take greater care here.
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June 07, 2020 at 09:12PM
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The day care dilemma | Editorial - NJ.com
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