Some Tauranga early childhood centres are backing the Government's call to open in level 3, saying it's important to be able to care for the children of parents who need to work.
But the head of one centre said although her staff were confident they could make it work, she was still concerned about how social distancing would work in an early childhood environment.
A local mother of twin boys backs those concerns and said in her view early childhood centres were a petri dish of sickness and it was unfair to make teachers go back to work.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced schools and early childhood centres would open next Wednesday, April 29, for children who cannot learn from home or whose parents are going back to work at alert level 3.
But the Early Childhood Education Council chief executive, Peter Reynolds, told NZME this week that the council was recommending its centres stay closed because of the risk of spreading Covid-19.
Despite this, local centres back the Ministry of Education and say they intend to open.
BestStart deputy chief executive Fiona Hughes said the company planned to open its Bay centres in Tauranga and Rotorua for parents who needed their children cared for in level 3.
"It's important that we're available to care for the children of parents who need to work."
Hughes said the company was relying on the expert advice provided by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to determine how social distancing worked in a preschool environment.
"The expert guidance we have received has restricted each room in a centre to a "bubble" of up to 10 children and their teachers only."
Asked her response to fears of an outbreak in early childhood centres opened in level 3, Hughes said: "We know that the experts have considered this and we are following their advice".
The principal of Inspired Kindergartens and Home Based Education, Peter Monteith, said the company would be relying on government advice and "honouring our commitment to support our community".
Monteith said Inspired Kindergartens would open on April 29 subject to being able to meet the Ministry of Health guidelines.
Asked what the consequences were if most early childhood centres decided to stay closed until level 2, Monteith said it would depend on the length of time spent in alert level 3.
"But there are likely to be impacts on parents' ability to return to the workforce and others who need specialist support for their children."
Monteith said social distancing in a preschool environment would not work with children with regard to changing nappies, but the risk would be minimised by the limitation on numbers.
"We are committed to the safety and well-being of our children, families, staff and are taking every precaution to keep everyone safe."
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
Gate Pa Preschool owner Caroline Hjorth believed what the Government had done so far was good and her teachers were all keen to get back to work.
"They feel quite confident we can do it in our small bubble."
The Gate Pa Preschool bubbles included six teachers and about 30 children, but they would open on April 29 to only 10 preschoolers and limited staff numbers.
"As a profession, we need to stay professional and trust the powers that be have done their research based on the best knowledge they have."
Asked about fears of a Covid-19 outbreak if childcare centres opened in level 3, Hjorth said it wasn't 100 per cent guaranteed.
"If you look more broadly not just at ECEs and primary, but every aspect, we have had silly people doing silly stuff. It is human nature, I wouldn't put it all on early childhood centres."
Hjorth would return to work on April 29 but said there was no pressure on any of her staff or families to return to work and the centre.
However, she worried about how social distancing would work in an early childhood education environment and was waiting on more guidelines from the Ministry of Education.
"If we follow good processes everything will be fine. We have supportive families."
Tauranga mother Rebecca Reid said despite struggling with her twin 2-year-old boys being home while she tried to work she still would not send them to daycare until at least level 2.
In her view there was no way social distancing rules could work in early childhood centres.
"ECE centres are a petri dish of whatever sickness is going around in the best of times, they should definitely not be open now."
The ministry said it was already working closely with the sector to develop systems that meet public health requirements to keep learning places safe.
"We are also working on providing more detailed guidance very soon to support the planning for schools, kura, kōhanga reo and early learning services to physically reopen.
"We know that we are not in ordinary circumstances, and we will work with education leaders in the lead-up to the physical opening."
The ministry said the alert level 3 approach in an early childhood education or school environment was designed to limit the number of people that children have contact with.
"At this point, our advice is to limit this to 10 children in each group, but this could be increased to up to 20 children once schools have all their procedures running smoothly."
Additional reporting - Samantha Motion
Specific public health measures to reduce the chances of respiratory infections including Covid-19 to be taken in early learning centres are:
- Indoor temperature needs to be increased to 18 degrees Celsius.
- Increase the minimum licensed indoor space for children from 2.5m per child to at least 3m per child. Outdoor requirement of 5m remains.
- Initially, the number of children must be limited to 10 in an early-learning bubble, but this can be increased to 20 once all processes are running smoothly. There can be multiple early learning bubbles on a site but there must be no mixing between bubbles (working this through).
- Parents are asked to keep any sick children at home. If a sick child comes to the centre, send them home.
- Ensure all children regularly wash and dry their hands.
- Ensure hand sanitiser is available but teachers/staff supervise its location and use in order to avoid a child accidentally drinking it.
- Put in place staggered entry and exit times to avoid all children coming into or leaving the centre all at once and parental drop-off at entrance to limit numbers entering site.
- Ensure that children have their own food containers and do not give and take food to and from each other. Food can be supplied in accordance with public health guidance.
- Meal breaks should be staggered.
- Put away any toys that cannot be easily wiped down or cleaned frequently.
- Disinfect and clean all surfaces daily.
- PPE (personal protective equipment is not required or recommended as necessary in any educational facility by the Public Health Service.
- Contact tracing registers must be set up to record who is on site in each physical space each day and who visits, for example parents.
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