Paducah Day Care Worker Discusses Coming Closure

As child care centers across the commonwealth prepare to be added on Friday to the list of closed businesses over the COVID-19 outbreak, a local child care center assistant director says employees are doing what they can to get ready for the disruption.

Jessica Ethridge with Building Blocks for Christ says the facility will shut down at 5:30 p.m. Friday in accordance with Governor Andy Beshear's recent order that all child care facilities in the state close until further notice to combat the potential spread of the disease.

Ethridge says the closure will definitely be a hardship on parents who depend on the center, which currently has 80 kids enrolled. She says some employees have offered to keep kids at their own homes for those who work in the medical profession.  

"A few of us that have been employed here have talked to a few of the parents that do work in the medical field. Some of us have offered to help them throughout the time, even at our own homes. We know they have to be at the hospital and work." Ethridge said.

It's not only the kids and their parents who have to figure out what they are going to do in the near future to adjust to the change. Ethridge says the daycare's workers will also need to navigate how to get by without a steady paycheck for a while. 

"We can't just go and find another job right now," she said. "With everything closing down, they're not going to be doing any hiring. As far as we know, all we're able to do is file for unemployment at the time."

Ethridge says in the meantime they have been taking extra time to thoroughly clean everything at the center and have taken additional precautions to combat any potential spread of the disease, with temperature checks and a strict policy to not accept any sick children. She added that there have been fewer kids at the center as well, since many parents are staying home from their jobs.

"We've had several parents keeping their kids at home. Some of our regular kids have not been here yesterday or today as of yet. I've talked to several parents. Some of the parents are going ahead and taking precautions and keeping their kids at home, since they are out of work as well." Ethridge said.