Ohio issues new coronavirus-related child care rules

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKRC) - Ohio issued new coronavirus-related child care rules Wednesday.

Ohio Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) announced they will issue a new temporary pandemic child care license.

These licenses will allow basic operations of child care centers to serve “parents that provide health, safety and essential services,” according to Ohio Jobs and Family Services.

The temporary pandemic program has to abide by new rules that ODJFS said would be released Wednesday.

Those rules outline about a dozen requirements to which the child care providers must follow, including following state ratio requirements and staff having state and FBI background checks.

“It is important that professionals who are essential to protecting the public are able to ensure their families have safe places to go while they are at work,” said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in a press release from ODJFS. “Helping to address this need allows our health and safety providers to focus on protecting and caring for all Ohioans.”

ODJFS told Local 12 a limited number of child cares will receive the licenses. The state will have to first approve their operations.

ODJFS also told Local 12 a decision hasn’t been made yet as to if child cares without a pandemic child care license will have to shut down, but they did say, “We expect the number of child care providers to be greatly reduced, but we are surveying the need of Ohio’s parents providing health, safety and essential services.”

ODJFS director Kim Hall said in a press release that the measures will be enforced for the duration of the pandemic.

The YMCA of Greater Cincinnati submitted 11 applications for that license, according to Jorge Perez, the president & CEO.

The submitted applications are for every Y location in Greater Cincinnati except Central Parkway, which primarily works with adults.

“We don’t have the types of amenities we want to see for kids there,” Perez told Local 12. “The goal here is to provide enough space for 100 or so kids we would work with at each location, to have plenty of space so we can adhere to some of the practices of keeping the kids separate.”

The Y already began transitioning its services to focus on first responders and healthcare professionals on Monday.

The YMCA is doing wellness checks on kids and parents by taking temperatures and asking symptom questions. Parents dropping off children are only allowed at the entry and aren’t able to access the programs.

Perez said there’s also increased handwashing and cleaning and disinfecting of equipment and facilities.

The Y submitted the applications for the pandemic child care license Wednesday morning and hasn’t heard back from the state yet if they’re approved.

“We’re expecting to create a very fun environment for these young people as their parents fight for us and take care of our very sick,” Perez said.