Valued Providers,
The Office of Child Care is reaching out to let you know about important updates to guidance for quarantine. The goal of the new guidance is to give providers and families an option for children who are asymptomatic close contacts to attend child care while ensuring that the needed layers of mitigation are in place. Providers can begin implementing these new recommendations on Monday, March 14, 2022 following informational sessions with the RI Department of Health (RIDOH) and RI Department of Human Services (DHS). Providers that decide not to implement these updated quarantine options should continue to implement the existing quarantine guidance from RIDOH.
Informational sessions will take place March 10, 2022. The first session will be in English from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. The second session will be in Spanish from 11:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.:
English Session (3/10/2022) at 10 –11 a.m.:
https://riema.zoom.us/j/99155255637?pwd=V2NOT3J5OEtPZ25RMFFPRzUwYmdBUT09
Meeting ID: 991 5525 5637 Passcode: 267581
Spanish Session (3/10/2022) at 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.: https://riema.zoom.us/j/92945049924pwd=R3NrTkU5SFRMOVVjUW1YQWt0NldvQT09
Meeting ID: 929 4504 9924 Passcode: 280644
In line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) new community levels, RIDOH recommends that child care programs implement the following quarantine approaches based on COVID-19 community levels for close contacts (except for household contacts) who do not have symptoms of COVID-19. All other individuals should follow existing quarantine and isolation guidance. RIDOH will continue to work with providers on outbreak response.
When COVID-19 community level is high, child care programs should implement the Test to Stay protocol for eligible staff and children age 2 and older who were exposed to someone with COVID-19 (except household contacts) and don’t have symptoms. They may attend child care if they:
- Get a negative result on a self-test at home each morning for 5 days after date of exposure; and
- Wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask when possible.
- Children younger than age 2 should quarantine at home for at least 5 full days.
When COVID-19 community level is medium, child care programs should implement the Monitor to Stay protocol for eligible staff and children age 2 and older who were exposed to someone with COVID-19 (except household contacts) and don’t have symptoms. They may attend child care if they:
- Screen for symptoms and attest to the child care program for 5 days after exposure;
- Wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask when possible; and
- Get tested on day 5, if possible.
- Children younger than age 2 should quarantine at home for at least 5 full days.
When COVID-19 community level is low, child care programs should implement the Monitor to Stay protocol for all eligible staff and children who were exposed to someone with COVID-19 (except household contacts) and don’t have symptoms. They may attend child care if they:
- Screen for symptoms and attest to the child care program for 5 days after exposure;
- Wear high-quality, well-fitting masks when possible if they’re age 2 and older; and
- Get tested on day 5, if possible.
The Child Care Playbook quarantine section will be updated with this new guidance and shared with providers in the coming days.
At this time, in alignment with new CDC guidance, Rhode Island is in low COVID-19 community level. As a result, RIDOH would recommend implementing a Monitor to Stay approach for asymptomatic close contacts starting March 14, 2022. Providers can implement an enhanced level of mitigation to meet the needs of the community or population the provider serves. To support providers that want to implement enhanced mitigation, the State will provide free at-home test kits through June 2022 to enable implementation of the TTS protocol. We will share more information about how to access these free tests during our information sessions next week. The RI Association for the Education of Young Children (RIAEYC) will support the distribution of tests, in partnership with the state.
As always, our goal is to best serve children and families, and keep children in care and our communities safe. Thank you for all you are doing to support children and families.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your licensor, the DHS Licensing team (DHS.Childcarelicensing@dhs.ri.gov) or the RIDOH COVID-19 child care team (RIDOH.COVIDchildcare@health.ri.gov).
Thank you for everything you do,
Office of Child Care
