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Daycares and childcare centers get green light, guidelines to reopen, here's the plan

Thursday, Governor Andy Beshear provided answers on how and when child care centers will reopen in Kentucky.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — When will childcare centers reopen and how will it look? For months, those have been the top questions from parents and childcare center operators. 

Thursday, during his media briefing, governor Andy Beshear and Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) Secretary Eric Friedlander provided some specific answers.

“Today is a day of really good news for many people. Childcare is one of the areas we know is critical to reopening the economy. It is critical to parents and has been critical to our essential workers,” said Sec. Friedlander. “It’s always a balance between protecting ourselves and our families and going to back to being Healthy at Work.”

Here are the dates and plan:

June 8 - small, in-home providers who take care of 10 or fewer children can reopen.

June 15 - larger, center-based child care centers can reopen.

  • The maximum group size will be 10 children per group. 
  • Children will remain in the same groups all day and staff will be assigned to the same children each day to reduce exposure. 
  • All adults must wear a face mask while in any child care program (in-home or center-based). 
  • Children 5 or younger should not wear masks, but older children may wear masks as they are able.

Programs should: 

  • stagger playground time
  • eliminate center-wide family events
  • eliminate field trips and use centralized drop-off/pick-up locations to eliminate unnecessary traffic to classrooms and reduce exposure

Sec. Friedlander also highlighted support for providers which includes additional funding for cleaning and PPE supplies. Continued assistance will be available from state personnel and resources.

Click to see the complete guidance for in-home child care and center-based child care. Again, they all have to meet the requirements in the Healthy at Work plan below:

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