Two Regina child care centres have temporarily closed their doors because of COVID-19.

A letter was sent out on Monday by the YMCA in Regina that a family at one of their centres in northwest Regina is being tested for COVID-19. This has resulted in two facilities –the northwest and Rochdale child care centres shutting down for at least 14 days. If the tests come back negative, then both will once again open its doors.

As a result, NDP leader Ryan Meili and education critic Carla Beck are now calling for the closure of all child care centres in the province. He also believes the closure of only child care centres attached to schools has caused confusion across the sector.

The government repurposed those child care centres for the use of front line workers deemed essential who must work and can’t be at home.

Here is what the Saskatchewan NDP are wanting the government to provide:

• The immediate closure of all childcare centres, and provision of in-home or very-small-group care for the children of essential workers;
• Provincial grants to childcare centres to ensure that operators can cover expenses and continue to pay staff while closed, without charging parents fees;
• Assurance that no parent will lose their child’s space due to COVID-19; and
• A provincial wage top-up to childcare workers who are redeployed to care for the children of essential workers.

The closure of child care facilities could pose an issue for essential workers who rely on these services while they continue to work during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Meili said that’s why the government should look at alternative child care models to limit the spread of the virus.

“A much better model would be to have either very small centres – less than seven kids – or in-home where there is a network of care providers who are trained on how to keep themselves safe and prevent transmission or infection,” stated Meili.

“They are actually able to go into the homes of health care workers and other essential workers to provide child care there – a place that is safe. Then we won’t have groups of children that are together, potentially passing the virus to each other, and then back up to families.”