As cases of the coronavirus appear poised to start plateauing in South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster and his advisers are increasingly focused on reopening the state for business.
Between April 26 and May 16, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control projects case totals will hover around 1,200 per week. When these numbers start to demonstrably decline, health experts agree that some social distancing restrictions may be safely lifted.
But many parents who have been isolated at home for more than a month share one question: What am I supposed to do with my kids?
Public schools will remain closed for the remainder of the academic year. And 53 percent of licensed child care facilities are still closed, too, according to the governor's office.
"We have 1,255 child care centers closed, not by order, because they were trying to keep people safe. ... They are desperately looking for PPE (personal protective equipment), as are others," McMaster said last week during a business panel of accelerateSC. The task force was recently established to work out ways to safely reopen the state's economy.
McMaster said closed schools could be an option for providing child care as employees go back to work.
"We have 1,200 schools in the state and none of them have children in them right now," he said. "That might be a good place to have some temporary child care. Those schools are all over the state.”
Jennifer Fletcher, deputy secretary for the state Commerce Department, similarly suggested that summer camps may be able to fill the gap.
"Clearly, we need child care from a daycare perspective, but also, how do we look at some of the summer camps and avenues parents utilize during the summer so we can get folks back to work?" she said during the task force meeting. "Our first thought is maybe we need to look at guidelines/best practices for those entities that might help some of them feel more comfortable.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Services was recently awarded federal grant money to help offset the cost of child care for the families of some essential workers. The money was made available through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
DSS spokeswoman Pam Bryant explained the money is available to provide child care assistance to "health care sector employees, emergency responders, sanitation workers and other workers deemed essential during the COVID-19 response, without regard to income eligibility requirements."
Children up to age 12, and children ages 13-18 with special needs, are eligible for the vouchers. Payments will be made directly to child care centers. For more information about the voucher program, go to www.scchildcare.org/news-and-announcements/covid-19-announcements.aspx.
