Sitting in her pink toy truck, 4-year-old Emma Harris giggled.
Her mother, Bridget Shaw, had just given the truck a firm push as they played in their front yard Monday afternoon. The toddler, who was previously stranded in the lawn, continued to charge toward the house.
If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, such family time would not be the norm for Shaw, who works as a surgical nurse at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.
But with Emma’s day care closed amid the pandemic, Shaw, along with other family members, tries to take care of her whenever possible.
The day care, like all others in Columbus, was first ordered by the city on March 21 to shut down. But those facilities, later deemed “essential businesses” by Gov. Tate Reeves, are now allowed to reopen as long as they follow strict regulations set out in a city resolution passed April 7.
Day cares are now required to take reasonable measures to prevent children from touching their mouths, noses and eyes and keep them six feet apart. Employees should also wear masks and other protection equipment when within six feet of a child.
But even with the shutdown order lifted, day care administrators in Columbus are reluctant to reopen for business.
Directors say they understand the demand for child care from parents and from their employees in need of income. However, deterred by the risk of infection and the city’s regulations, most, if not all, child care facilities in the city remain closed.
But Shaw said she would not send Emma back to her day care even if it reopens.
“We would be concerned regardless of the standards,” she said. “Kids are kids. They sneeze on their hands, they touch door knobs, they’ll sneeze right into your face with no warning whatsoever.”
The need remains
Taking care of Emma while working as a front-line worker is challenging, Shaw said.
Shaw said she’s fortunate to have several family members, including Shaw’s father and mother-in-law, pitch in to take care of Emma.
But some of her coworkers, she said, have felt the burden of child care more strongly than her family.
“It’s really impacted a lot of my coworkers,” she said. “They don’t have that backup like I have.”
Naomi Edmonds, director at the First United Methodist Church Early Learning Center, shared the concern.
“Most people have someone on the back burner, but they don’t have somebody (there) every day,” she said.
Through talking to sister child care centers around the county, Edmonds said some facilities are faced with higher demands due to a large portion of essential worker parents who cannot afford taking care of their children at home.
Day care closures have not only added to parents’ burden. Employees at day cares, especially nonprofits, do not qualify for unemployment benefits because they do not pay into unemployment insurance, said Patricia Lemmermann, co-director at the First Presbyterian Child Development Program.
The facility has applied for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a U.S. Small Business Administration loan helping businesses keep their employees on payroll through the COVID-19 pandemic, Lemmermann said. The total $350 billion dispensed to small businesses nationwide, however, dried up after merely days of applications, according to multiple news outlets. Another $250 billion, which awaits congressional approval, is still in the works.
The bank approved First Presbyterian’s request, Lemmermann said, but money has yet to arrive. For now, the facility is still struggling with salary payments.
“We won’t be able to pay salaries for April, May … unless this PPP loan is approved,” she said. “When we are no longer able to provide that service, then we are no longer able to draw that income.”
Jody Gurley, leading pastor at the First Assembly of God in Columbus, shares a similar situation as the center waits for federal funds to keep employees on their payroll. The center is unable to pay full salaries for their employees, he said, but has been giving them partial payments.
“I feel bad for parents that don’t have a place for their kids to go,” he said, “but I also feel terrible for my employees because this is their income.”
In the meantime, all three day cares have halted operations, waiting at least for the shelter in place order to lift.
Risk of infection and violating city regulations
But even with the pain felt among parents and day care employees, child care facility directors in Columbus are hesitant to resume operations.
One of the primary concerns, Edmonds said, is the risk of children contracting the virus and bringing it home to their extended families.
“We have 67 children. That’s 120 parents, 20 staff,” she said. “That’s a lot of people in contact with other people all day long.”
Additionally, many child care directors feel it’s hard to meet the city regulations, which went into effect following an early April council vote. Violators could face a $1,000 fine or up to 90 days in jail.
Some child care facility directors believe those regulations are unachievable.
“There are just certain things you can’t expect a 2-year-old to do,” Lemmermann said.
Gurley said he believes the policies are in place to deter the day cares from opening.
“It’s virtually impossible,” Gurley said of following the city restrictions.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, who agrees with the strict regulations, said he wants them to be a “protection, not hindrance.” Realistically, though, he admits they might be the latter.
“To follow those regulations,” he said, “you would have to be a perfect person.”
Other council members — specifically Charlie Box of Ward 3 and Bill Gavin of Ward 6 — believe the safest thing is for child cares to remain closed during the crisis.
“I didn’t really think they should reopen in the first place,” Box said. “You got to try to protect those children.”
Challenges to reopen
Despite the fear of infection, however, Edmonds and Gurley said they plan to reopen their businesses once the governor’s shelter in place order, which went into effect April 3, is lifted.
“We have to stay afloat,” Edmonds said.
To comply with state guidelines, Edmonds said, she plans to keep up to two teachers and eight children in the same room. Bathroom stalls will be divided and designated to children from the same room to slow the spread of the virus, she said, and parents will be limited to the hallway.
Gurley said the First Assembly of God could resume parts of its business as soon as the first week of May with a “systematic” plan in place to minimize the risk of infection within the day care.
But the day cares could see fewer children and therefore less revenue, they said.
Edmonds said some parents may drop out of the program to avoid paying fees to the day care to keep a spot. The center will also have to use relatively more staff to keep fewer children, she said.
“It’s going to cost us more money,” she said. “It’s costing us from both ends.”
Help is on the way
As day cares in Columbus remain closed, front-line worker parents in need of child care may soon see some help.
Launched last week, the state Department of Human Service (MDHS) is now setting up child care sites for emergency workers. Licensed child care providers, as well as organizations without a license, can apply to become an emergency site and receive training beforehand.
As of now, no site has been set up in The Golden Triangle, but “any interested parties are welcome to apply,” said Danny Blanton, chief communication officer at the MDHS.
Aside from child care assistance, the state will also provide Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) to day cares who have maxed out on their unemployment benefits or nonprofits who do not qualify for regular benefits.
The PUA program, established under the $2 trillion federal stimulus package signed into law as the CARES Act, will be in place in Mississippi starting Friday, said Dianne Bell, communications director at the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Working employees with cut-back hours, she said, may also qualify for partial PUA benefits.
Mississippians are encouraged to apply online at www.mdes.ms.gov. For information on emergency child care sites, visit mdhs.ms.gov/ccair.
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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