The new kindergarten year starts on September 1st - again in regular operation. Then you can go back to daycare with a runny nose. The institutions are happy to have more freedom, but there are also concerns.
Erding - Child day care will take place again in regular operation from September 1st. Even with mild symptoms such as runny nose without fever or occasional cough, children are allowed to go back to daycare from the new year of kindergarten - as long as the number of corona infections in a district or city does not exceed a certain value. The Bavarian Health and Family Ministries have agreed on this.
The new three-step plan is intended to create clear rules for daycare centers, parents and children. The aim is to avoid entry bans, such as those imposed in the high phase of the corona pandemic, as possible in the future. A local closure of facilities is only possible as a last resort, according to a press release from the ministry. The levels should be based on the corona warning system applicable in Bavaria, but the specific decision is incumbent on the health department.
Disinfectants and mask compulsory for visitors
Educators are in constant contact with the boys and girls. Therefore, strict hygiene measures must continue to be followed in the daycare center. It is particularly important to keep the encounters as small as possible when bringing the children to the facilities, as their parents or other family members accompany the children into the facilities. The entrances are equipped with disinfectant dispensers as standard, and family members are only allowed to enter with mouth and nose protection.
The Hörlkofen children's home has also staggered the delivery times. “Some of the children can still be brought in until 10.30 am,” says Eva-Maria Huber, director of the children's home. In the municipal children's home "Sonnenhügel" in Dorfen, family members have to report to an intercom in front of the entrance before they can enter the facility. “Our premises allow two families to be in the changing rooms with their children at the same time. In the meantime, the rest of them have to wait outside in the fresh air, ”says manager Franziska Greimel.
Fixed groups with fixed educators
So far, care has also been taken within the day-care center to avoid encounters: the children were divided into fixed groups with a fixed educator. However, this gave rise to various problems. Sandra Liebold, director of the AWO children's home “Zum Sonnenschein” in Erding, explains: “Our facility is open ten hours a day, and none of the employees can work ten hours a day. That's why it's difficult for everyone to stay in their own group consistently. "
The situation is particularly unusual for the children. “Normally, the children are allowed to move around freely in our house,” says Huber from the Hörlkofen children's home. The updated general hygiene plan now brings some easing, which is largely welcomed by the daycare managers we asked. “The children really missed our snack bar, where they agreed to meet for a snack. We can now open that again. The new regulations offer us more opportunities and freedom again, ”says Huber happily.
"We are happy about the new regulations"
But kindergarten age is also the "cold age", which is why so far many parents have reacted with incomprehension when their little ones were not allowed to go to daycare because of a mostly harmless cold. “If the rules were maintained as they were before, the house would probably be empty by September. That's why we're looking forward to the new regulations, ”Liebold notes.
The worries that the corona virus could spread in the daycare center with the new regulations are rather low. In Hörlkofen, for example, all 167 children were recently tested for the virus - without a single positive result, said Huber.
"A slight cough can be harmless, but it could also be Corona"
In Dorfen, too, people are looking ahead in a rather positive mood. "With a good cooperation, also with the parents, we should be able to cope well with the coming period," Greimel is convinced.
Bettina Böck, director of the “Villa Regenbogen” community children's home in Langenpreising, also expresses concerns about the new regulations: “It is difficult for us to assess how sick a child actually is. A slight cough can be harmless, but it could also be corona. We already have a lot of responsibility as a daycare center. ”The infection process in Langenpreising has been very stable so far, but now that many have been on vacation, the situation will have to be monitored closely in the future.
Martyna Zagacka
