Although it is impossible to completely prevent sickness in your daycare or child care center, there are actions and policies you can implement to drastically reduce the spread of illnesses. Follow these tips to help keep your kids and staff virus-free.

1.   Require hand sanitizing when entering. Post a sign at your entrance that asks all parents, visitors, and staff to either sanitize their hands or wash their hands if there is a sink nearby. If there isn’t a sink close by, you may want to set up a small table with hand sanitizer available.

2.   Wash everyone’s hands frequently. The number one way to prevent the spread of germs is hand washing. Post hand washing signs in all classrooms reminding teachers of how and when to wash hands. Proper handwashing involves using soap and warm water to wash hands for about 20 seconds.

 How often should I wash hands?

*Children. Children's hands should be washed immediately upon arrival for care, when moving from one child care group to another and upon re-entering the child care area after outside play; before and after eating meals and snacks, handling or touching food, or playing in water; after toileting and diapering, playing in sand, touching animals or pets, contact with bodily fluids such as, but not limited to, mucus, saliva, vomit or blood and after contamination by any other means.

*Infants. Washcloths are ok to use for infants when the infant is too heavy to hold for hand washing or cannot stand safely to wash hands at a sink and for children with special needs who are not capable of washing their own hands. An individual washcloth should be used only once for each child before washing.

*Staff. Teachers and staff should wash their hands when arriving for the day when moving from one child care group to another, and upon re-entering the child care area after outside play; before and after diapering each child, dispensing medication, applying topical medications, ointments, creams or lotions, handling and preparing food, eating, drinking, preparing bottles, feeding each child, and assisting children with eating and drinking; after toileting or assisting children with toileting, using tobacco products, handling garbage and organic waste, touching animals or pets, handling bodily fluids, such as, but not limited to, mucus, saliva, vomit or blood and after contamination by any other means.

 3.   Disinfect all toys and surfaces. After a child puts a toy in their mouth, make sure the toy is properly cleaned before allowing another child to play with it. This can be done easily by placing it in a bucket out of reach of children to be cleaned at the end of the day or throughout the day when it is convenient. All tables and chairs should be disinfected before and after meals. All other surfaces including large equipment, larger toys, doorknobs, etc. need to be disinfected at the end of each day.

If you have staff, It is sometimes difficult to keep your teachers motivated and accountable to clean their classrooms. Teachers are also sometimes unsure of how what, and when to clean. It is sometimes helpful to use a cleaning guide to let teachers know what is expected, and help the director or owner know that it is being done. If you need a cleaning schedule, you can get my Daycare Cleaning Checklist here.

So how should you disinfect?

Though commercial disinfecting wipes, sprays, and cleaners are convenient, a simple effective disinfectant can be made using bleach. This is the most recommended product for child care programs to use to disinfect surfaces.

 • For disinfection, diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol, and most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective.

Prepare a bleach solution by mixing:

▪ 5 tablespoons (1/3rd cup) bleach per gallon of water or

▪ 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water

You can visit the following link for products approved by the EPA to fight emerging viral pathogens:

https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-use-against-sars-cov-2

  4.   Have a written sick policy and stick to it. Implement a sick policy and have it detailed in your parent policy handbook. Make sure that every parent knows the center's policies before enrolling their children into your center. Be sure to check with your state guidelines to make sure your policy is in compliance with their standards.

After implementing a well-written policy,  stick to it. You may feel bad for a parent who really needs to work and needs care, but in the end, you need to do what's best for the children in your care.

Don’t know what policies to include? The following is an excerpt from the sick policy we have in place for our center.

Exclusion of Sick Children

If your child’s temperature is 100.5 degrees or higher, or he/she develops diarrhea, vomiting, or any other contagious symptom, such as but not limited to rash, sore throat, or pink eye, we will notify you to come pick up your child. 

If a child is sent home with a temperature, vomiting, diarrhea, or any other contagious symptom, he/ she may not return to the center until 24 hours after the symptom subsides.

Click here for a free communicable disease chart for guidelines on exclusion, symptoms, and treatment.

If you want to notify parents of exposure to an illness, download and use this free disease exposure letter template.

5.   Limit Medication. Consider limiting medication to only inhalers or EpiPens for chronic illnesses or allergy medicine for seasonal allergies. 

Over the counter medications, such as pain killers and fever reducers, should not be given to daycare children. Fever reducers only mask the illness which increases the chance of that illness spreading within your facility. If a child requires a dose of pain medication or fever reducer in order to make it through the day then they are too ill to attend daycare.

If you do choose to allow medications, check with your state licensing for paperwork requirements.

- Have the parent sign a medication form that states the medication name and dosing requirements

- Document the date, time, reason, and dose every time you administer the medication

- Only allow original labeled medication bottles

- Prescription bottles must contain the doctor's name, dosage, and specific time for administering.

Although it is impossible to completely eliminate diseases, following these guidelines will drastically reduce the spread of germs and illnesses resulting in an overall healthier environment for your children and teachers.