Child care and early education settings can reduce their COVID-19 transmission risk by following recommended mitigation strategies, according to research published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The findings arise from a mixed-methods study at Head Start programs in Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Missouri, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. The programs implemented mitigation strategies that prescribe everyday prevention actions, actions when someone becomes ill, and staff communication and support.
Interviews with Head Start program directors in five states identified two common themes: staffing and operations flexibility, and “ongoing communications among program administrators, parents and caregivers and teachers and other staff members…”
“Implementing and monitoring adherence to CDC-recommended mitigation strategies could play a crucial role in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in child care settings,” according to the researchers.
The article is authored by Fátima Coronado, MD, Sara Blough, MPH, Krista Proia, MPH, Erin Sauber-Schatz, PhD, and Grant Baldwin, PhD, all of the CDC COVID-19 Response Team; Deborah Bergeron, PhD, Marco Beltran, DrPH, Katherine Troy Rau, MSW and MPP, Andria McMichael, EdD, Mark Lackey, and Jovanna Rohs, PhD, all of the Office of Head Start in Washington, D.C.; and Tracye Fortin, MA, and Tracey Sparrow, EdD, of both the Office of Head Start and the Educare Learning Network in Chicago, Illinois.