Update: January 13, 2022
In light of the updated CDC guidelines, ALCP has made the difficult decision to maintain the course we have been operating under for over a year in regards to children who test positive or are exposed to COVID-19. Those mitigating measures are listed below. Specifically, the mitigating measures we will maintain moving forward in regards to positive tests and exposures, will be as follows:
Children Birth to 5 years Old
Children exposed to COVID-19 and considered a “close contact’ will follow quarantine measures for 5 days following exposure.
If a child receives a Negative PCR test on day 6, they may return to care on Day 7
If a child chooses not to test, they may return to care on Day 11
Children who test positive for COVID-19 may not return to care until 10 days following symptom onset or positive PCR test and have been fever free for 24 hours and symptoms are improving.
School Age Children - A child who attends a Public or Private School
ALCP will begin operating under the new CDC guidance for School Age children who are “Close Contacts” are participating in the “test to stay” option at their school. Meaning they may return to care on Day 6 wearing a mask at all times.
School Age children who test positive for COVID-19 regardless of vaccination status
may not return to care until 10 days following symptom onset or positive PCR test and
have been fever free for 24 hours and symptoms are improving.
ALCP Employees
ALCP, will begin operating under the new CDC guidance. For CDC Guidances please go to:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/quarantine-isolation.html
Please note the following important information:
Exposure to COVID-19 is considered a “Close Contact”
Close Contact = Individual who was within 6 feet for longer than 15 minutes of someone
who tested positive for COVID-19 and that contact happened within 48 hours of the
person testing positive or symptom onset whichever was first.
The date of your exposure is considered day 0.
Day 1 is the first full day after your last contact with a person who has had COVID-19.
If you test positive for Covid-19
Day 0 is the first full day of symptoms or a positive PCR test.
Day 1 is the first full day after your symptoms developed or your test was collected.
Please note: For family members, specifically children, who can not ‘isolate’ away from a person they live with who has tested positive for COVID-19. Said child would need to quarantine at the same time as their parent/family member, however their ‘quarantine’ time clock would not start until Day 6 of their positive family member.
For example, a mom of a 2 year old tested positive for COVID-19 on January 1st. Both mom and child began quarantining measures on January 1st but could not isolate from one another. January 6th, mom could resume activity outside of the home wearing a mask. However the 2 year old would begin their quarantine regiment on January 6th.
Fully vaccinated
Is defined as; 2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series, or ≥2
weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine
Ongoing mitigating measures:
Barriers have been hung at the front desk for safe parent/employee interactions
Meal times, gym times and outside times have been adjusted to ensure smaller numbers of classes are in the same area at the same time.
We will continue using digital options & daily wellness checks for daycare children & employees
Cleaning & Sanitizing
Daily Cleaning of facility
3x per day classroom wipe down by classroom staff
ALCP will continue sending children’s bedding home at the end of the week
ALCP staff will continue to send home all cups to be washed at home each day
Entire facility is fogged at the end of each day
Update: May 15, 2021
Current ongoing protocols:
Barriers have been hung at the front desk for safe parent/employee interactions
Meal times, gym times and outside times have been adjusted to ensure smaller numbers of classes are in the same area at the same time.
We will continue using digital options & daily wellness checks for daycare children & employees
Cleaning & Sanitizing
Daily Cleaning of facility
3x per day classroom wipe down by classroom staff
ALCP will continue sending children’s bedding home at the end of the week
ALCP staff will continue to send home all cups to be washed at home each day
Sanitizing of bathrooms following each individual classroom usage by classroom staff
Update: October 13, 2020
As of October 13, 2020 we have updated the Health Screening questions via Brightwheel. Each morning we are asking parents to keep your child home if they are sick, have a fever of 100.4 or greater or unable to ‘check’ all of the Health Screening questions, indicating none apply to your child. A Health Screening is required to be completed by each parent at check in. The updated Health Screening questions are as follows:
Fever (100.4 or greater),
Shortness of breath or new uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty in breathing (for a child with chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, see if there is a change from their usual cough)
Do you have any of these symptoms that are NOT caused by another condition?
Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
Recent loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
Within the past 14 days, have you had contact with anyone that you know had COVID-19 or COVID-like symptoms? Contact is being 6 feet or closer for more than 15 minutes with a person or having direct contact with fluids from a person with COVID-19 (for example, being coughed or sneezed on).
Have you had a positive COVID-19 test for active virus in the past 10 days?
Within the past 14 days, has a public health or medical professional told you to self-monitor, self-isolate, or self-quarantine because of concerns about COVID-19 infection?
CDC recommendations for what you should do in the case that you are unable to check off all of the questions:
Ideally we ask that the same parent or designated person should drop off and pick up each day if possible. We completely understand that this can not happen each day, we are simply trying to do all we can to limit the exposure to children and staff, especially in this time where the flu season will be picking up as well.
Below are protocols that have been put in place for our staff members:
1. Stay home if you are sick, running a fever of 100.4 or greater, or unable to check off all questions on the Health Screening
2. Regularly disinfect the classroom throughout the day, and thorough disinfect at end of day.
3. If a classroom uses a restroom, disinfect the bathroom following each use of the entire classroom
4. Limit time spent playing with other classrooms in the gym, playground & restroom (outdoors, no more than 2 classrooms in these locations at any given time; indoors no more than 1 classroom in these locations at any given time)
5. Adjusted meal times and seating at tables
6. Limited use of cloth type materials in the classrooms that are difficult to sanitize
7. Practice social distancing with ALL adults (coworkers, parents, & visitors). Not within 6 feet of another adult for longer than a 10 minute period of time. (6 feet = 3 ceiling tiles)
8. Use masks or face shield:
i. when social distancing can not take place
ii. Serving food (includes bottle feeding)
Throughout the day, be vigilant in your awareness of any changes to a child’s physical appearance:
- flushed checks
-sore throat (if they can articulate this)
-change in breathing (rapid or difficulty without recent physical activity)
-fatigue
-extreme fussiness
-diarrhea, vomiting or stomachache
-new onset of severe headache, especially with a fever (if they can articulate this)
Update: September 2020 Response Protocol for COVID-19 Exposure or concern of exposure
We have adjusted the questions for the daily Health Screenings we are asking each of you to complete upon arrival. These adjustments are to ensure the health and safety of the entire center. To clarify, we are continuing to be told, COVID-19 will be a part of our lives for a significant amount of time. All of the mitigating steps we as a center are taking are to protect your family and ensure we can slow the spread of this virus. Our intent is to do all we can to educate our staff and families on how to best protect and respond when your family comes in contact with this virus. Our goal is to maintain operations in a safe manner and ensure each one of you the gift of normalcy through this unprecedented time.
Here are the steps we will take, at this moment, if you answer yes to any of the questions on the Health Screening:
1) Does not have a fever of 100.4 or greater
We are asking you to not drop off today and call your primary care physician. We
understand that due to the age of children we work with, teething is one of the main
reasons children may run a fever. As long as the fever is below 100.4 the child can be
dropped off. If higher, this is simply a precautionary step.
2) Is not experiencing shortness of breath
We are asking you to not drop off today and call your primary health care physician.
This has been one of the symptoms that we are continually encouraged to monitor with
children in the age groups the center serves.
3) Is not experiencing 3 of the following:
cough
congestion
nausea/vomiting
sore throat
loss of taste or smell
We are asking that you do not drop off today and call your primary health care physician.
According to CDC guidances (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/children/symptoms.html) fever and cough are the most common symptoms. This list is the total list of symptoms listed on the CDC website. We selected basing this decision on three of the symptoms due to children in this age group and many of them having running noses the majority of the time, might have a consistent cough, and some of these not being ones they can vocalize. In addition to the fact, that there are other illness’ out there that children in this age group experience that might have similar symptoms but would not exclude them from care.
4) No one in your household been exposed to COVID-19 or been asked to quarantine
We are asking that you do not come to the facility for any reason and call your health care physician and/or the Reno County Health Department. If your place of employment has ‘quarantined’ you or asked you not to come, please contact the Reno County Health Department to receive more guidance on whether this was simply precautionary or you had come in direct contact with COVID-19.
5) No one in your household traveled outside of the state of Kansas in the past 14 days.
ALCP adheres to the Travel Guidance issues by the State of Kansas. You can locate that travel guidance at: https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/175/Travel-Exposure-Related-Isolation-Quaran
Due to this travel guidance changing at different times throughout this pandemic we encourage each parent to reference this website anytime you will be traveling. The only reason we would ask you and or your child to not come to the center would be according to the current travel guidances.
According to CDC & KDHE guidances, if you have been tested for COVID-19, that you self isolate and refrain from coming in contact with others until your test results come back. Please do not come to the facility for drop off or pick up if you have been tested and are awaiting results or have been told that you possibly have come in contact with COVID-19.
We appreciate and understand that all of the new ways we are being instructed to engage with one another can feel overwhelming, frustrating and many times confusing. We want to again communicate, ALCP’s intentions are simply to take all we are being told and do our best to limit the points of exposure to your children.
If you at any time are asked to quarantine, self isolate, are traveling, or your child simply becomes ill, one of our front office staff members will be following up with you on a daily basis. This is one of the mitigating steps we have put in place to simply ensure we are being vigilant in proactively responding versus reactively responding.
If a child tests positive, our current protocol is to first speak to the Reno County Health Department to review the specifies and receive guidance on how to proceed. We will then directly speak individually to all ‘direct contacts.’ Meaning we will call all parents of children that had direct contact with that child and any staff. All of these families will also be contacted by the Health Department and are encouraged to contact their primary care physician. Once we have spoken to each of them, we will message the entire facility. This final step is simply for the sake of honoring your trust in us with our transparency.
At this moment, the current protocol for ‘contacts’ of a ‘contact’ is not to quarantine. Meaning if a parent were to test positive, that family would be asked to quarantine, and the teachers in the classroom will be notified and asked to help in the monitoring of symptoms for all other children in the classroom. However, the children in the classroom are considered ‘contacts’ of a ‘contact’ and were not in ‘direct’ contact with the person who is positive. Due to the monitoring steps we stated above, if for any reason during the exposure period, if that child or any child in the classroom were to be come symptomatic, we would ask for a test and then would follow the same protocol for quarantining all those who came in direct contact.
All of the same protocols would be followed for a staff person who might test positive.
Please note, that this has been an ever evolving situation and all of the protocols we have in place at this time are subject to change at any given moment. The truth of this pandemic is there is so much unknown, and due to that there is no ‘playbook’ on how to respond. Each situation we have faced over the course of the last seven months have had some similarities and some differences and thus not all handled identically. What that means is the amount of time to be quarantined. If you have had the privilege of experiencing this, you will know that some of the confusion comes in and it can be viewed that you are getting different answers. However, each situation has specifics that affects how each person must respond.
Our hope in the midst of unknowns, is that we can be a consistent, hope filling place in your families life. If there is ever a moment that you have questions or need connected to an entity that can answer those questions, please do not hesitate to call in and we will be more than happy to assist.
Update: September 1, 2020
KDHE recently updated their travel restrictions. Please visit https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/ to stay up to date on this information.
Update: April 16, 2020
Included is the link to Governor Kelly’s address to the state yesterday where in she extended the Stay at Home Order to May 3rd. We want to continue to express our support to all ALCP families during this time. We want to continue to communicate our support of following all of the guidances and recommendations being made on all levels; nationally, state wide and locally. We are in communications daily with our local Health Officer as well as all of our local 1st responders and leaders as we navigate this time locally.
We do continue to operate on a daily basis regular hours (Monday-Friday, 6:00am to 6:00pm) with full staffing capacity, adjusted child to staff ratios for health and safety precautions, as well as adjusted operational procedures to ensure the health and safety of all children and staff on a daily basis at the center. We want to encourage each family to unitize the center as you need us. We are asking that each family submit their schedule for the following week by Thursday by 6:00pm to info@abundantlifechildcare.com
For any other questions regarding ALCP’s operational adjustments in relation to COVID-19 response, due to the increased volume of questions we are asking that you please email us at info@abundantlifechildcare.com and allow us 48 hours to respond.
Click to watch Governor Kelly’s address.
Update: March 15, 2020
Attached is the current guidance recommendation for the state of Kansas. We are asking that due to the fact ALCP is remaining open for business that parents notify us and refrain from bringing their child to the center and contact their family physician, if they fall into any of the following categories:
Traveled to a state with known widespread community transmission (currently California, New York and Washington state) on or after March 15.
Visited Eagle, Summit, Pitkin and Gunnison counties in Colorado within the past week.
Traveled on a cruise ship on or after March 15.
People who have previously been told by Public Health to quarantine because of their cruise ship travel should finish out their quarantine.Traveled internationally on or after March 15.
People who have previously been told by Public Health to quarantine because of their international travel should finish out their quarantine.
Received notification from public health officials (state or local) that you are a close contact of a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19. You should quarantine at home for 14 days since your last contact with the case. (A close contact is defined as someone who has been closer than 6 feet for more than 10 minutes while the patient is symptomatic.)
Download KDHE Quarantine Recommendations
Please be advised that in the United States the current risk of COVID-19 for the general public is low.
We know that our parents and staff may have questions about the possible spread of COVID-19, more commonly referred to as the Coronavirus, in the United States.
ALCP is committed to the health and safety of staff, children, and families that attend. We are working in conjunction with the local and state Health Departments as well as the daily notification provided by the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html) with an update of all current cases within the US. Based on their recommendations we have a guidance plan together that will assist us in ensuring the health and safety of your child. This plan includes but is not limited to the continued excellence in cleaning and sanitation of the facility, regular monitoring, communication and exclusion of all children and staff due to sickness or illness, as well as timely communication with staff and parents about any necessary adjustments.
COVID-19 requires we take the same precautions as with influenza (flu). Hygiene is key with this outbreak and self-isolation/quarantine should be practiced anytime someone becomes ill.
We are asking that you utilize the fact sheets provided by the CDC to help us in the prevention of all sickness and illness. We are asking that if your child will be absent for any reason to please continue to notify the center by sending a message via Brightwheel with pertinent information. We also ask that if your child is running a fever of 100 degrees or higher that they remain at home until they are free of a fever for at least 24 hours or have a doctor’s note releasing them back into care.
Please be advised that in the United States the current risk of COVID-19 for the general public is low.