Attending child care safely
Vaccination is the most effective way to protect adults and children from serious illness from COVID-19, including the Omicron variant.
Health checks help make sure people do not attend child care when they are sick. Everyone should ensure they are not expriencing any symptoms of illness (including symptoms of COVID-19) before entering a child care setting.
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Parents/caregivers should be aware their child should not go to child care if their child is sick or required to self-isolate. Parents/caregivers can also encourage their child(ren) to share when they are not feeling well.
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Child care operators should regularly remind staff and parents/caregivers about the importance of regularly checking for symptoms of illness (including but not limited to COVID-19 symptoms) before coming to child care.
Staff, children and parents/caregivers can also call 8-1-1 or consult their health-care provider for guidance.
Personal health and safety measures help keep the risk of infections, including COVID-19 in child care settings low.
Adults should
Children can be supported to practice personal health and safety measures
- Help children practice hand hygiene often, especially before and after using the bathroom and using commonly touched surfaces (e.g. the playground, etc.).
Help children practice respiratory etiquette, including reminding them to sneeze/cough into the elbow and throwing out used tissues right away.
Encourage them to tell staff if they’re not feeling well and keep them home when sick.
Masks can provide an extra layer of protection. Information on how to make your mask fit properly is available on the
Public Health Agency of Canada website.
All adults and children over two years old may wear a mask based on personal or family choice. Child care staff should supervise and support children to ensure safe and proper use of masks if a child or their family chooses to wear a mask.
The choice of staff, families, or children to choose whether they practice additional personal prevention measures should be supported and treated with respect.
Staff and those providing services to children with medical complexity, immune suppression, receiving delegated care, or with disabilities and diverse abilities that require them to be in close proximity to a child should follow routine infection control practices needed for general communicable disease prevention.
Infants under 2 years of age should not wear a mask.
See the
Masks page for more information on how to use a mask properly.
The guidance applies to everyone in child care, regardless of vaccination status. There are some differences in recommendations if they test positive for COVID-19 between people who are vaccinated compared to people who are not.
Adults over 18 years who are not fully vaccinated and have tested positive for COVID-19 will need to self-isolate for 10 days. Adults over 18 years who are fully vaccinated and have tested positive for COVID-19 will need to isolate for 5 days. Go to If you have COVID-19 for more information.
Children from different schools can still attend before- and after-care together.
The
Public Health Guidance for Child Care Settings outlines the health and safety measures that should be in place to reduce the likelihood of spread of infections, including COVID-19. These guidelines apply to
all child care settings, including those in personal homes.