KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Many small businesses across the Kansas City area are struggling during this COVID-19 outbreak, including some deemed essential and allowed to stay open.
While many are closed or have been forced to reimagine how they provide service, others, like day cares, are allowed to stay open but are dealing with big changes and big questions anyway.
At Tomlin Academy Early Childhood Center in Kansas City, Missouri, there are only about two dozen children going to day care right now.
"We used to have around 70 kids coming in the door on a daily basis and now we have 22 to 25 everyday,” Tomlin Academy owner Shantelle Tomlin said.
With many parents working from home or suddenly out of work, a lot of them are keeping kids at home, resulting in a decrease in Tomlin's staff too.
"I had 16 girls and I’m working with seven now, so it’s a huge difference,” Tomlin said.
Parents have a variety of reasons for keeping their kids away from day cares at the moment.
"Many of them have just gotten really creative about ways to keep their kids at home and ways to still be able to work, and some of them were just completely laid off," Tomlin said. "Some of them are completely working from home, so there’s a lot of different variables."
With no formal statewide guidelines before Gov. Mike Parson issued a stay-at-home order Friday, Tomlin Academy has been following the guidelines set forth by the city — including limiting groups to 10 people or fewer, keeping kids off playground equipment and making sure everything is clean.
Another thing the day care is doing is making sure the kids don’t have a lot of toys to play with, hoping that will reduce the chance of spreading anything among the children.
"That was a game-changer I thought from my particular building, because thinking in terms of kids is the number one way they spread germs is through toys,” Tomlin said.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas was asked about day cares in the city remaining open Friday during a Twitter live chat.
"Right now, every day care that is working with us, our health department has been reaching out to make sure they are following a number of best practices that is listed on our order including having fewer students, trying to make sure they are in the same group and and following the best health best practices," Lucas wrote.
Health officials at The University of Kansas Health System have urged parents to avoid sending children to day cares, when possible.
"If you don't have to, I would probably try to advise not to use day care or other places where you're being with other children, but also the households, those parents that are coming in bringing their kids, things of that nature," Dr. Dana Hawkinson, who serves as the KU Health System's medical director of infection prevention and control, said. "I think you just open yourself up to be having contact with more outside households and possibly having bringing the disease home."
Tomlin is not accepting any new children for enrollment at the matter, but he ponders if she should stay open.
"Is it worth having 25 kids or should I just shut it down and wait until this is over with?” Tomlin said.
For now, Tomlin is staying open for the parents who rely on her.
