Quebec daycares won't close again if there's a second wave, province says

Quebec won't close down its public daycare networkif there's a second wave of COVID-19.

As part of new directives made public Thursday, Health Minister Christian Dub said the province will keep daycares openbecause the measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus inside the facilitieshave worked, and there's growing evidence that it doesn't spread easilyamong young children.

A daycare willbe closed only if there's an outbreak at the facility, he said.

"Once you have a second case in a daycare that's linked with the first one, that's what we call an outbreak,'' added Dr. Richard Massof Quebec'spublic health agency.

Quebec had its first COVID-19 outbreak at a daycare in May, when 12 children and four employees at a centre in Mascouche, in the Laurentians region just north of Montreal, tested positive for the disease.

But Dub noted that, overall,there havebeen only 123 recorded cases in Quebec daycares since March 57 of them among children.

Daycares were shut down in the spring for all but the children of essential workers until June 1, when they started togradually reopen.

Dubsaid closing the networkput a strain on parents and he would like to avoid doing that again.

"We do not intend to shut down the entire network," he said at a news conference.

He also announced a new self-assessment tool parents can use to determine if their children should stay home.

Watch: Public health's Dr. Richard Massexplains the plan:

Daycare outbreaks won't force regional shutdowns, Quebec government says

4 years ago

Duration 2:37

If a COVID-19 outbreak happens at a daycare, the government won't quarantine an entire region, Quebec's public health strategic adviser, Dr. Richard Mass said.