Parents in Texas face horrific lack of information about coronavirus risk in daycare

Coronavirus cases are reported to increase rapidly in daycare facilities in Texas, and parents face terrible uncertainty when trying to decide whether to leave their child in a daycare.

As of Wednesday, Texas children and staff reported 1,695 positive cases in 1,078 daycare centers, with approximately 8.8% of facilities open as of this week, according to state health agencies. About one-third of cases were children and the rest were staff.

In mid-May, 59 confirmed cases were reported between children and staff. By the end of June, the total was 950, including 307 children and 643 staff.

It is unknown if those numbers are amazing.

State health officials track the total numbers, but provide little information about where and how the virus spread in daycare. Pediatricians have sent conflicting messages about how dangerous a virus exposure is for children and the adults around them. And the state has recently required daycare centers to follow federal safety guidelines.

It provides parents’ parents with little information to make informed decisions about the safety of their children.

“Surely people need to be really cautious, thoughtful, and attentive.” Professor Emily Oster of Brown University said, “While unscientific and not actually a bar,” the parenting center is the most risky place. I think there is also a risk of overreacting and saying that. Survey of COVID-19 at 916 daycare centers across the country serving more than 20,000 children.” She found that over 1% of staff and 0.16% of children were confirmed infected.

Public health and policy professionals have argued whether the recent surge of incidents has put Texas daycare at an unacceptable risk to children and staff, for example, whether people are infected in the facility or if the incident is He said he needs more information to know how focused he is.

“We need a little more to put it in context,” said Dinatom, a pediatrician at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. “I don’t know the answer, but I think I have the data.”

But getting that information is almost impossible. In response to a public information request from the Texas Tribune for a breakdown of total counts by age, region, and race, the Texas State Health and Welfare Commission urged the State Attorney General to agree that data should not be published. , Argued that the data does not need to be published. There was some information, the rest was “protected health information” under state law.

(Texas in particular Strict state health privacy laws You refuse to disclose the name or location of a nursing home with a COVID-19 case because your family wants information. )

Other states, including North Carolina, Kansas And Arizona, Update their website with the number of cases in day care and other institutions. North carolina Oregon contains the name of the center of infection. The state of Texas has disclosed the number of cases at daycare centers to reporters who asked not to publish it online.

The Texas Department of Health also does not have data on the number of children in childcare or the staff employed in the nursery, so are 555 infections in children and 1,140 infections in staff a nasty number? It’s difficult to know. According to the HHSC, daycare centers can accommodate more than 800,000 children on paper, but many report far fewer enrollments than usual. With half the capacity in daycare, Texas’s 555 cases accounted for about 0.14% of children in the , a little lower than the Oster study showed.

“I’m a little worried about people…saw a number like 300 cases and they found it in their minds [among] 1,000 children,” said Oster, referring to the number of cases in children last week. “There are many scary things, but the 300 cases based on 300,000 children are different.”

On the other hand, much remains unclear as to how the disease spreads, especially in children. Public health experts agree that children are as likely to get the virus as adults, but the symptoms are likely to be moderate or nonexistent. Studies have not clearly shown how likely children are to infect other children or adults with the virus. This is a daunting prospect for parents and parenting workers.

Early in the pandemic, the Texas Child Care Center was closed for over a month, except for the children of mandatory workers who dispatched staff to grocery stores and hospitals while other companies closed. .. Governor in mid-May. Greg Abot The Child Care Center said it could serve anyone who is part of his endeavor to restart the state’s business.

That’s when the number of incidents started to increase. The HHSC removed some of the childcare facility safety requirements, but added them in late June to restore them and follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rules require that day care centers check the temperature of staff and students daily and, in addition to normal regulations, parents are not allowed to drop students out and serve family meals.

When asked about the state’s strategy to address COVID-19 hotspots in child care centers, the HHSC and the State Department each suggested that others might have the answer. The HHSC said it is conducting unannounced tests of childcare centers “as needed”, but did not elaborate. A DSHS spokesperson said local health departments, informed of each case confirmed at a local nursery, may be investigating an outbreak in their city.

At some daycare centers in Austin, multiple children were tested positive, says Darine Bavnani, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas at Austin’s Del Medical School. In each case, the center was closed due to positive case notifications and parental notifications. However, it is unclear whether the children caught the virus at the center, or whether those facilities were in compliance with or lacking certain safety protocols.

In mid-June, the Circle C Child Development Center in Austin, which accepts children from 8 weeks to 5 years old, informed the parents in mid-June that staff had a positive test for COVID-19. By June 22, nine staff members and one child had a positive response, according to an email sent by Tribune to his parents. A Texas law nursery must notify all parents in writing within 48 hours of knowing that the child or employee has a coronavirus or other epidemic.

Employees said the staff responsible for disinfection after using the classroom was responsible for the cluster of infectious diseases Confirmed with KXAN-TV last month.. The center worked with county epidemiologists to revise safety procedures. This includes requiring staff to wear masks and maintain a social distance from each other. But emails from the center show that wealthy neighborhood parents have already withdrawn their children from the center.

“We’re trying to exceed state standards. I think we’ve done that,” a Circle C representative told Tribune by referring to the Center’s website.

New state safety regulations allow centers to choose to limit class size to 10 or enforce social distance regulations. No one, including the state, keeps track of which centers follow which standards, making it difficult for parents to create. Educated decision. Due to limited state surveillance, experts advise parents to ask parents if they are following CDC safety guidelines.

“If there is one case and that center is not on it, it can easily expand,” said Diana Cervantes, Assistant Professor and Director of the Epidemiology Program at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center. “What are their plans when they are positive?”

Experts also warn parents that even the limited data released by Texas may not be complete, as the state has not kept up with the demand for pandemic-wide testing.

“The number of infected infants is increasing as we see the COVID-19 infection rate continue to rise,” said Stan Spinner, Chief Medical Officer of the Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine Division at Texas Children’s Hospital. States. “Parents need to understand that the rates currently reported for children in daycare may not reflect the true incidence of the infection, so having children in daycare is right for them. Parents must consider this fact when considering whether it is an option.”

In other states and countries, outbreaks are limited in day care centers and schools, with infections predominantly affecting adults.

American Academy of Pediatrics Relied on this preliminary data If we encourage students to be physically present at school, we underestimate their health risks relative to the educational and social risks of leaving their children at home. He also noted that at school, maintaining a 6-foot social distance is not possible for students, and a mask and frequent hand washing may be sufficient.

However, unlike schools, daycare centers are full of toddlers and babies who cannot wear masks or effectively practice social distance. And unlike some other states and nations, Texas has seen daily highs in the new COVID-19 case after Abbott allowed companies to reopen and many Texas people gave up on social distance and masks. I recorded it.

Local and state agencies have better understood how COVID-19 is prevalent and adjusted their guidelines. Still, the nursery says there is no support, logistics, or financial support to control the virus.

John Russo, president of the Sprouting Star Children’s Academy in Hulgerville, said that parents whose children were exposed to COVID-19 were trying to move to another daycare at state-funded costs. When it became clear, I contacted the local labor committee. Due to state and federal government restrictions on the disclosure of personal health information, the government was not able to notify other centers of potential exposure.

Since then, Austin’s local workforce committee has set up a two-week waiting period for families receiving parenting subsidies who want to move to another center.

“Today’s view of Austin’s infection rate is different than it was two weeks ago,” said Tamara Atkinson, CEO of the Labor Force. “We are working hard to translate that information and provide it to our parents.”

Disclosure: University of Texas San Antonio Health Science Center, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Texas, Texas Children’s Hospital financially supports Texas Tribune, a non-profit, partisan news organization funded in part. The person. Donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in tribune journalism. Find a complete list of them here..

Texas Tribune provided this story..