Local daycare helps working parents during pandemic

AGAWAM, Mass. (WWLP) — This past Monday started the first week of exempted emergency child care programs for essential workers with children.

This followed Governor Charlie Baker’s announcement last week to close child care facilities as part of an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Priority was given to parents who work in essential positions, such as healthcare, first responders, and grocery store workers.

22News spoke with a daycare provider in Feeding Hills who qualified for the exemption.

She told us for the first-week things are going “really well” and that the state has maintained constant communication.

“We get a phone call every morning, which I just got one from the department of early education, asking me how things were going, how many kids do I have, and how many do I project for next week. This will be going on every single day; they have to know.”

22News asked the daycare provider how the kids have been reacting to the new situation.

“They do know that something is going on because I am making sure as they walk in, now they are sanitizing their hands more. I’m making sure that they are not putting things into their mouth. If they do I put it in the sink to disinfect it. So they kind of know that what is going on, but they are not weirded out in any way.”

The daycare provider also added that providing care for children especially in times like these it is crucial for the community.

“The people who do need to go out there and work, that have to be on the front-lines, they need people to be watching their kids. To give them the guidance that they need, the nutritional meals that they need, and give them the love that they need.”

Parents are advised to try to keep their children away from group settings, but the emergency centers will operate for families with no other options.