{"id":62631,"date":"2021-11-13T09:02:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T16:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=62631"},"modified":"2022-01-15T07:34:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T14:34:36","slug":"fourth-wave-threatens-safety-at-daycares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2021\/11\/13\/fourth-wave-threatens-safety-at-daycares\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth wave threatens safety at daycares"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Stay Strong:<\/strong> Ruby Largo, the program supervisor of Kidsland Daycare Centres Woodbine. (Photo by Skyler Yang\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S<\/span>ince kids under the age of 12 are not currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, parents and daycare workers are concerned about their children\u2019s safety. The fourth wave of the pandemic has caused 34 deaths and 1,682 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta on Sept. 29 alone.<\/p>\n

B<\/span>ased on the new restrictions released by the Government of Alberta<\/a>, masks are mandatory only for students in Grade 4 and higher.<\/p>\n

The program supervisor of Kidsland Daycare Centres Woodbine, Ruby Largo, believes that everyone should stay strong in order to keep children safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s [a] new normal to me, we just have to be strong enough and have the presence of mind because we cannot stop,\u201d Largo said.<\/p>\n

Largo is thankful for parents and staff members being very cooperative in this situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a daily checklist for parents, which includes a set of questions asking about COVID symptoms. If they answer yes to any one of the symptoms, they have to make sure to keep their kids home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel grateful for parents because I know how hard it is to trust us and send their kids to our daycare. We wash hands every single time before we interact with kids, sanitize all toys and furniture that we keep in each room, and make sure that all staffs wear masks when they are with kids,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Stay Safe:<\/strong> Hyejin Kim, right, helps her son Jack Hebert put on a mask before he goes to the daycare. (Photo by Skyler Yang\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hyejin Kim, mother of two sons, decided to send her kids to daycare, despite the ongoing pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think parents should be more aware of their children. Last week, I didn\u2019t send my child to daycare because he had a blocked nose. I didn\u2019t want any other kids to have even just a polite symptom of cold,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n

She is also worried that her kids might miss out on opportunities to socialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do [worry] about going anywhere, including daycare. But I think it\u2019s more important to meet people and socialize. So, we decided to send both of them to the daycare at the moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to last week\u2019s provincial data, Alberta children hit a seven-day average of 68 cases per 100,000. It was the highest record for those aged five to 11 years since the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Jillian McConnell has stopped sending her daughter to the daycare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is ridiculous that the province is still not closing daycares. I understand that it\u2019s not an easy decision to make, but I think children\u2019s health should be considered as more important in this situation,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As kids under the age of 12 are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, parents and daycare workers are concerned about children\u2019s safety. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":722,"featured_media":62632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Daycare and Parents SY","footnotes":""},"categories":[711,13,1106],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-62631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news","9":"category-physical-health-and-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/722"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62631"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63125,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62631\/revisions\/63125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}