Saturday, November 27, 2021

Holiday 2021 update

 

Happy Holidays to all!

I cannot believe it has been a whole year since I last posted. While we’ve experienced so much change over the past year, much of what I wrote last year has not changed, not the least of which is the uncertainty. I remain grateful for your continued trust in me to provide health and safety guidance for your centers. The pandemic continues to be challenging and throw many curveballs, for sure, and you have remained resilient through it all.

We finally got somewhat comfortable with decision-making around exclusion and return to center guidelines relative to COVID, and then vaccine availability and pooled testing created new confusion. There are differences among management of symptomatic individuals with no known COVID-19 exposure, known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, individuals who test positive for COVID-19 (symptomatic or not), COVID-positive household members who cannot isolate, and whether or not individuals are fully vaccinated. It is so important to clearly identify the situation. Links below will assist with decision-making.

Just to add to these challenges, the new vaccine exemption law went into effect on September 1st, which means only medical exemptions are allowed (no more religious or philosophical exemptions), and the licensing rules were updated. No wonder our heads are spinning!

I hope you can all take some well-deserved time for rest and rejuvenation with your families over the holidays. My hope for 2022 remains the same – hope for much-needed relief!

Warm regards,

Deb