NYC Childcare Centers Will Reopen Next Week, Health Board Says

NEW YORK, NY — Thousands of childcare centers that have been closed during the coronavirus crisis will reopen next week, the city's health officials decided Tuesday.

The city's Board of Health voted Tuesday afternoon to rescind a closure order for 3,000 city-run childcare centers that had been put in place at the start of the coronavirus crisis in April. During the pandemic, only 125 centers have stayed open for essential workers' kids.

Reopening the centers, to start July 13, will include social distancing and cleaning guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus while still helping New Yorkers returning to work as the city reopens its economy, the board said.

"As New York City reopens more parents and guardians are returning to work outside the home and they rely on childcare," Corinne Schiff, the city's deputy commissioner for environmental health, told the board. "They may turn to informal care if regulated programs remain closed."

The 3,000 childcare centers include capacity for about 150,000 children, though health officials said they don't expect that full capacity will be met given social distancing rules and because many parents are still working from home.

Restrictions for reopening the centers include state-mandated guidelines that no more than 15 kids can be in a room at once, that all staff and children wear face coverings and that there are limits on sharing items or toys.

If a child or staff member from one of the facilities tests positive for the coronavirus, all children and staff from that classroom will be required to quarantine at home for 14 days, officials said.

The centers will also have daily health screenings and frequent cleanings.

New York State will give funding to facilities that open before July 29 to help with the costs, officials said. The centers were also each notified twice by email that they should start planning for the opening, Schiff said.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers returned to work during phases one and two of reopening from the coronavirus crisis and the city entered Phase 3 of reopening its economy on Monday.

This story was updated after the vote from the Health Board.