Source
r/ottawa•
jim002

any parents out there that have had their daycare center closed and reopened? what is process for reopening?

hey folks, so my nieces center was closed, but they got a phone call from the center saying their reopened. My sibling wants to send the kids back, but the partner is hesitant without official communication from OPH (a letter or something?) Has anyone gone through this yet, does OPH provide that? Reading through OPH website and all i can find regarding repopening is that they " OPH will guide and assist Child Care in management of outbreak “

Edit: OPH did follow up with an email “https://imgur.com/gallery/ZiBN79q”

Posted Oct 21, 2020, 1:52 PM UTC · edited

26
z00k33per•

Our son’s centre closed for 14 days after the last day that the person that last tested positive was at the building.

We did get a letter from OPH (sent to us by the centre) at the beginning of the shutdown but not regarding reopening.

We sent our son back when they reopened and they’ve been stricter about their “pods” of kids (ie no co-mingling anymore) and the enforcement of other rules.

Edit to add that the centre did send an email saying they spoke with an OPH caseworker to confirm the reopening date. I assume that if your centre is reopening, it is with advise from OPH (especially if it was a known outbreak).

3
jim002OP•

Okay, so nothing came to you from OPH. Just wanted to confirm that. Thank you for the response, it’s appreciated.

1
burnkat•

Our daycare closed twice for COVID. Both times Ottawa Public Health was in contact with the daycare, not the families. The daycare forwarded the information OPH sent them to us, but it was all boilerplate type information.

The daycare was given a re-open date by OPH that was two weeks after they closed. They told us what that day was and we just showed up to drop off the kiddo that morning like normal.

If what happened to us is normal, there isn’t a whole lot of communication or stuff to pass on to you from OPH.

1
lebinott•

Is it an official child care centre or just a home daycare? I don't know what the requirements are for a home daycare but if it's an official one they have to follow strict guidelines put in place by OPH. If they're being allowed to reopen that means OPH should have given them the go ahead and you can probably just ask the centre for that confirmation. Or maybe it's a check list of some sort? I don't know exactly but you're better off reaching out to the daycare and asking what measures have been made to ensure the safety, has it been disinfected, have all staff been tested, etc.

My centre hasn't closed but this information will be good to know in case it happens at some point

2
jim002OP•

It’s an official one. Ya we’re all unclear of what happens, that’s why I’m crowdsourcing what others have experienced. It’s a large credible center so I’m sure the phone call should suffice. Just wondering if it’s part of the guidelines to provide letters or what other parents that have gone through this received.

-1
lebinott•

Ours provides us with emails when there is anything that comes up and another email when the test results have come back, in our case all negative. Hopefully someone with experience can chime in.

Happy cake day btw lol

2