COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)

Governments across the country are working on plans to reopen society after the novel coronavirus pandemic reaches its peak.

While the timing and components of these plans vary, all must confront an important reality: Getting people back to work requires sufficient child care.

Four in 10 working adults have children under 18. Before the coronavirus struck, approximately one-third of all children under 5 attended a paid care facility, day-care center, preschool or prekindergarten.

Once the coronavirus hit, many of these arrangements were upended. While some day-care centers continue to serve essential workers, many have shut down completely.

For example, Bright Horizons, one of the country’s largest day-care providers, closed more than half of its centers in mid-March. KinderCare, which had operated more than 1,300 centers across the country, now lists only about 400 that are still open.

As a result, many of the estimated 1.5 million people employed in the child-care industry have seen their jobs disappear. Behind those losses is tremendous heartbreak. One day-care owner in Philadelphia described laying off her 100 workers as “the worst day of my life.”

Reopening these facilities won’t be easy. While many out-of-work day-care providers would jump at the chance to regain employment, not all will be in a position to return.

Forty-three states have already closed public schools for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year — which means day-care providers who work while their children are in school may not be able to come back.............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...ild-care-shortage-prevent-americas-reopening/