Yale researchers found that childcare programs are not a big contributor to the spread of Covid-19

During the pandemic, one worry among parents has been whether it is safe to send their children to daycare. Research generally shows that younger children face a low risk of contracting COVID-19, but research focusing on childcare programs has been scarce.

Recently a group of Yale Researchers  “conducted the first-ever large-scale assessment of the risk of working in child care during the COVID-19 pandemic”. According to Yale News,

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that exposure to child care was not associated with an elevated risk of spreading COVID-19 from children to adults, provided the child care programs took multiple safety measures — including disinfecting, handwashing, symptom screening, social distancing, mask-wearing, and limiting group size — and were located in communities where the spread of COVID-19 was contained.

For the study, Yale researchers surveyed 57,000 child care providers across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico in May and June, 2020, comparing self-reported COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations among workers whose programs stayed open and those whose programs closed. The research was done in collaboration with Child Care Aware of America.

No differences in COVID-19 outcomes were observed between workers who continued to provide in-person care for young children and those who did not. These findings suggest that child care providers assume no heightened risk from their work — assuming that workplaces keep following core health and safety practices.

The study has important Implications

Childcare has been one of the hardest hit industries, both by the pandemic and associated lock-down policies. In a lot of ways, however, these lockdown policies have been based on faulty assumptions that the risk of infection, and sickness, is the same across age groups. This study helps provide clarity to that assumption, allowing better decision-making.

Lawmakers, for instance, could loosen restrictions on providers because such establishments do not pose a substantial risk to the general population. Providers could continue to operate with more accurate knowledge of the risk that their operations present to them, their children, and their parents. For some, this could mean more targeted measures, which could be less costly. For those that have closed, the study allows them to possibly consider reopening. Parents also get more information to assess the riskiness of sending their kids to childcare.

In short, this study helps stakeholders cut through the fear-mongering that has run rampant through the pandemic and make better-informed decisions.