The New Hampshire state government has encouraged daycares throughout the state to remain open as long as they can through the COVID-19 epidemic.
“Those are smaller organizations, if you will. They don’t have hundreds and hundreds of kids that we are dealing with in the larger populations. If anything in some of these areas, we can actually expand the opportunity to have more kids in those facilities within reason to make sure that the workforce fluctuations – that may be happening over the coming weeks – can be dealt with,” Governor Sununu said during a press conference on Sunday.
Dublin Community Preschool is currently not accepting additional children besides older siblings of existing attendees, Director Sheena Baldwin said this week.
But if other daycares in the area close, she wants to try to accommodate the children of doctors, paramedics and other first responders, and possibly even take on staff from closed facilities to keep daycare opportunities open for children of medical and emergency professionals, she said.
The preschool has implemented a strict protocol about who’s allowed into the building to minimize potential exposure to the virus.
“We’re trying to keep our doors open,” she said, although attendance is down.
On Wednesday, Baldwin said only two of the facility’s regular 10 infants and toddlers came to the preschool, and several staff members had opted not to come to work.
As reported on Wednesday, several other regional daycares remain open and are taking additional precautions to minimize exposure to the COVID-19 virus.