As of late July, more than 200 of the roughly 7,000 child care centers in Pennsylvania had closed permanently, with an additional 100 centers reporting they planned not to reopen. The state’s Department of Human Services held a virtual news conference in partnership with the Institute of State and Regional Affairs, based at Penn State Harrisburg.

DHS Secretary Teresa Miller and ISRA Professor Philip Sirinides, who worked on a report about child care challenges over the past five months, answered questions about what these child care closures mean for working families. The report is available online at dhs.pa.gov/coronavirus/Documents/PA_COVID_IMPACT_FINAL.pdf.

The survey data was collected in April and May, before the July 3 masking order issued by the Department of Health, as well as mandatory 6-foot-distancing requirements that DHS had told reporters June 2 did not apply to day care centers. Costs detailed in the report, then, are likely underestimated, and some day care centers may be challenged to reopen at all, given the financial necessity of operating very close to physical capacity, and the extreme difficulty of doing so while maintaining 6-foot distancing.

Miller revealed the alarming fact that “without immediate assistance to offset costs, it’s estimated 4 percent (280 centers) will close immediately, with another 1,000 at risk of closure.”

These impending closures are in addition to the 200-plus day care facilities that have already decided to close. Eligible providers received roughly $51 million in CARES Acts funding in June, with another $53 million paid out in July.

With $116 million planned for a third round of CARES funding in August/September, DHS will use the results of the ISRA study to inform distribution of these additional funds.

The ISRA study measured costs experienced by all child care providers with sufficient available data to be measured. The resulting costs are not inclusive of all costs child care facilities are facing as a result of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s mid-March business shutdown but represent four areas.

Three of the areas are facilities (leases and mortgages that must be paid regardless of enrollment), personnel (two weeks’ worth of payroll) and the added costs of COVID-19 miti gation regulations. The fourth area is more of a lens through which to view costs - the financial strain of operating at a hypothetical five-sixths enrollment.

The figures cited by Sirinides represent different ranges of time. For facilities, the cost of $56 million is for the 14 weeks from the beginning of the shutdown through the point in June when all but six Pennsylvania counties were in the green phrase. The personnel cost of $63 million is for two weeks of payroll, which represents the cash a center would need in order to reopen.

The additional COVID-19 health and safety costs amount to $22 per child per week. The financial strain of underenrollment - $89 million - was calculated for the 14 weeks between the June green date and Labor Day.

Sirinides acknowledges, “It’s difficult for us to estimate the level of underenrollment and the associated costs.”

DHS and the Office of Child Development and Early Learning hope to have better attendance data by October.

OCDEL Deputy Secretary Tracy Campanini said the rarely cited state regulation that child care centers are not permitted to serve school-aged children during the typical school day is a rule that is likely to change.

“There may be many families,” Campanini said, “that were not expecting to have child care expenses for a portion of or the entire week. We’re trying to issue some clarifying communications to parents and providers in the field. It is another very critical topic to address as well.”

Pa. Title 55, Subsection 3270.241, provides the regulations for child care for children of school age. Despite the wording of the first sentence of the statute which implies children who are enrolled in public or private school but are attending that school only virtually and are not barred from child care, there are additional responsibilities on child care providers serving school-aged children for more than 15 hours per week, a threshold that would certainly be crossed in some districts with three days of online instruction planned for this fall.

“In order to support working families who may need care during schools’ scheduled remote learning days, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and DHS are working on clarifying flexibilities for school-age child care in licensed and unlicensed programs. Further guidance on this is being finalized and will be issued soon.”

In the Lehigh Valley, 44 percent of households do not have a parent at home to supervise children during the workweek, according to U.S. Census data analyzed by researchers at SmartestDollar, which can be viewed at smartestdollar.com/research/cities-without-stay-at-home-parents-2020). The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area ranks 20th on the list of mid-sized metro areas in this respect.

To fill the child care gap, which is now also an early learning gap, national child care and early learning chains with local franchises have stepped up to offer support for children doing virtual education without stay-at-home parents.

Lightbridge Academy, which has campuses at the Madison Farms shopping center in Bethlehem Township, on Linden Street in Bethlehem and on Cetronia Road in Allentown, is offering a remote learning support program this fall. Employees at these preschool/day care franchises are prepared to provide assistance with online learning for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with half-, full- and extended-day schedules.

Like every other child care facility, Lightbridge has a finite number of openings that has been made even smaller by the 6-foot-distancing requirements; however, as of Aug. 18, spaces were available.

Sylvan Learning is also marketing its services to working families struggling to cope with virtual and hybrid education.

According to materials from the company, “Sylvan Learning will have in-person support at many centers to help families while children are not in school. For example, Sylvan will offer sessions at physical locations where teachers can help children log in to Zoom lessons or offer assistance on assignments.”

Sylvan sites are located on William Penn Highway in Palmer Township and on Tilghman Street in Allentown.

Penn Capital-Star asked whether child care centers have been a driver of community transmission. Campanini cited the readily accessible webinars and available person-to-person training on sanitizing and other mitigation practices her department provides. She directed the reporter to the OCDEL website, dhs.pa.gov/providers/Providers/Pages/Coronavirus-Licensed-Facility-Data.aspx, which shows only 88 children and 130 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the epidemic in March. These figures are particularly notable given that through the end of June, 6-foot distancing was not required and face coverings were required for staff only.

In addition to survey results, the ISRA report includes selected quotations from child care providers interviewed by the team from Penn State Harrisburg. Some providers remarked on the dilemma of charging enough to stay open versus keeping rates stable for families facing job losses and hour cuts.

Many commented on what they saw as the borderline unworkability of face covering and social-distancing recommendations, which became requirements.

One child care provider said, “I’m worried just about how children are going to be receptive to the regulations that are going to be in place. The young children who I work with - that is one of the main ways they learn language: seeing facial expressions. If they can’t see our facial expressions, I worry about how that’s going to impact them.”