It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way various different industries operate, but this is especially true for those working in childcare.
“There was a moment in early October where for 2 weeks, I only had 4 kids,” explained Henry Janzen before- and after-school program coordinator, Micah Valencia.
“I usually have like 22 at a time, but during that time I only had 4 because Henry Janzen had 15 different cases and a bunch of the grades were shut down and moved to online learning”
While the vaccine is now out and available to many, one of the limiting factors is that children under 12 years of age are ineligible to receive their shot as of right now.
This leaves those working in the childcare industry with a lot of responsibility when it comes to keeping children safe.
The before and after school childcare program is run through the YMCA, and staff have faced several challenges adapting to the pandemic.
“We got shut down actually in March of last year,” said Valencia. “We were shut down until the summer and usually every summer I’ll work at the YMCA summer camp where all of my kids go but unfortunately, because of COVID we were not able to host it at the YMCA because gyms were shut down.
“Financially it has not been easy for the Y because we have to get so many supplies since they can no longer share”
Both staff and students have struggled on a personal level with the restrictions.
“I don’t right now have the same type of connection with the kids that I used to have with them before COVID, because we can’t hug, we can’t sit together…the student-to-teacher relationship just isn’t there” said Valencia
“They used to enjoy coming to the program and now it’s more so they come in every morning and the younger ones are crying every morning because they want to play with their friends outside because outside they can do stuff together,”
In addition to the struggles surrounding vaccines for children, there is an increased need for childcare options in Regina, as many people are returning to work in person.
“We have definitely seen an increase in parents requesting their kids to be in our program. This is why actually we used to just run grades 1-6 but this year we’ve extended it to grade eight because more parents were registering their students” said Valencia
“Last year I’d only get like one or two new students but this year I have 6 new grade ones and in the fall when we were registering, I had eight kids on the waitlist for my program”
Currently, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have only been approved for youth aged 12 to 17. According to the Government of Canada’s website, no vaccine has been approved for use in children under the age of 12.
Clinical trials are currently underway to determine if vaccines would be safe and effective for younger children and if these children would need smaller doses.
