Kids can still go to daycare even if close contact has COVID, Dr. Henry says

B.C.’s top doctor is trying to give daycare operators some more clarity as isolation rules for close contacts of people sick with COVID-19 change.

Currently, the BC Centre for Disease Control website says people who are fully-vaccinated don’t need to self-isolate if a close contact has tested positive for the virus. But the BCCDC says those who are not fully-vaccinated are required to self-isolate for 10 days.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says this doesn’t apply to young kids going to daycare, who can’t get vaccinated.

“Yes, you don’t need to — and that is a change — you don’t need to isolate if you’ve been a contact and you’re a healthy child,” she said during her COVID update on Tuesday.

Q-close contact rules for kids when can they go back? ten days?ok if not symptomatic? when will @CDCofBC be updated?
DBH: it is a time of transition right now. working with MDFD & ECE. New info in coming days. Don’t need to isolated if close contact#bcpoli #covid19 @CityNewsVAN

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) January 18, 2022

Henry hinted at this shift before but daycare operators have still been telling families to keep kids home if a close contact has COVID-19.

“It has been a challenge as we have changed and had to change to deal with the challenging and different situation that Omicron is presenting us,” Henry added. “So yes, those are still the guidelines that were in place as things have transitioned. There’s been challenges in some places in taking up the new protocols.”

Henry says there will be a townhall with childcare operators and providers in the coming days and the guidance will be updated.

“We’ve been working with the sector very actively over the last couple of weeks as we’ve updated our understanding about what it means right now as the testing strategies have changed and as we’ve understood that more and more people, particularly who are vaccinated, are having milder illness and shorter illnesses — so it is a time of transition right now.”

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• B.C.’s childcare sector says it is ‘blatantly neglected’ by province

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Last week, childhood educators called for guidance and support, saying a lack of communication from the province had left the industry feeling neglected.

“What happens if mom and dad test positive? When can that child come back to daycare? When you read the document, it doesn’t give you a clear enough step by step to be able to say to an extremely stressed out parent that this isn’t my policy, this is a provincial health policy,” Sara Sutherland, operator of the Children’s Centre at Capilano University, told CityNews.

“All of those little grey areas make it very, very challenging for operators like myself.”

-With files from Claire Fenton