When you look at the age spread of positive cases in NSW,it is 20- to 29-year-olds who are most likely to have COVID. Of course,this is the age group that staff our childcare and vacation care centres – who else but the young would choose to be an educator when the wages are so abysmal and the recognition for the role so poor? Like other businesses,our centre directors and co-ordinators have been receiving messages all week from staff who are COVID positive or in isolation.
Unlike other businesses,childcare centre staff numbers are controlled by regulation. Pandemic or not,they can’t just open without the required minimum staff numbers,and these staff must hold specific qualifications. This sector has been beset by staff shortages for the past decade – and it is getting worse,year by year. Most services limp on with heavy use of casual staff,many of whom have now returned to their country of origin.
With educators catching COVID-19 and/or isolating,centres will have no choice but to close. Closures will rocket above the already high numbers we have seen in the last few weeks.
We have already learnt that the economic survival of childcare centres in a pandemic is tenuous,hence a changing raft of Commonwealth government interventions designed to keep them afloat such as free childcare,additional subsidies and fee-waiving policies. But under the Commonwealth’s current policy,if a service closes due to lack of staff,even if they all have COVID,the service is not allowed to waive parent’s gap fees. If a specific child has COVID,the centre can waive fees for that child,or if the entire service has been ordered to close by the NSW government,but not if they have to close because they do not have enough well staff to open.
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No wonder we are hearing some reports of for-profit centres pressuring educators to come out of isolation and come back to work so the centre can remain open.
The NSW government was aware of the chaos that would happen if large numbers of staff had to isolate and came up with a complex,but possibly workable “test to stay” regime where services would decide for themselves if children,educators or families were at high,moderate or low risk of catching COVID-19 when a positive case was in the centre.