HARRISBURG, Pa. — For parents like Danielle Gross, wearing a mask is more than a personal choice. It's emotionally personal.
She and her family who live in York County, battled COVID-19 last year and while Danielle is vaccinated today, her two children, who are 6 and 8-years-old respectively, aren't yet eligible to get the shot.
They've been wearing masks throughout the summer at the camp they attend, though it wasn't until recently the camp, which operates under the ownership of a child care center, started mandating children wear face coverings.
"I've talked to child care providers who, as soon as they got their guidance, said, 'What does this mean?' and they just repeated the same thing," Gross said.
Unlike public school districts across Pennsylvania, child care centers are open throughout the year. And unlike school districts, they are privately owned businesses. Safety decisions are ultimately theirs.
However, daycares are still regulated by the Commonwealth and are overseen by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, better knows as OCDEL, which is jointly operated by the state Departments of Human Services (DHS) and Education (PDE).
Parents, and child care providers find the lack of guidance coming from OCDEL troubling. On OCDEL's website, as of August 23, the most recent guidance issued by DHS was on June 28.
In Pennsylvania that day, the Commonwealth had 153 new cases of COVID-19. On August 19, the Commonwealth hit a summer high of 3,908 positive cases.
Jessica Shertzer, who owns multiple child care centers in Dauphin and York Counties, also spent three years working in the Department of Human Services. She believes since Governor Tom Wolf's emergency declaration ended days after the most recent COVID-19 policy was updated, not to mention the rise of cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant, there should have been more communication from DHS.
"We should have received clarification after that so we knew how to proceed," Shertzer said.
Having worked in the child care industry her entire career, Shertzer says she is comfortable making health and safety decisions for her centers. The same cannot be said for others who she speaks to daily.
"I work with many providers who are confused every day," she said. "They are putting out questions every morning on Facebook, [asking] 'Should I do this? Should I do that?' They don't know, because there's not one singular message."
FOX43 emailed the Department of Human Services on Tuesday, August 17, requesting an interview with either Acting DHS Secretary Meg Snead or OCDEL director Tracey Campanini. DHS Press Secretary Erin James responded Thursday, declining the request without saying why. DHS did respond with a two paragraph e-mailed statement:
The Department of Human Services continues to strongly recommend that child care providers follow the extensive guidance from the CDC to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in child care settings, and we have shared that information with Pennsylvania providers.
We know our best defense against COVID-19 and various variants is getting vaccinated. The Wolf Administration continues to urge all eligible and able individuals to get vaccinated to protect themselves and those who cannot get vaccinated, like young children.
FOX43 then called the DHS press office and was unable to speak to Ms. James, after being told she was working remotely. She did respond to written questions, which referenced following guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seven times. The CDC has not updated its COVID-19 guidance for child care centers since June 10, according to its website.
"CDC guidelines are national. This is Pennsylvania," Shertzer said. "Even within Pennsylvania, what happens in Pittsburgh is different than Harrisburg is different than Philly. So, referring us to CDC guidelines is unhelpful."
The full response from the Department of Human Services regarding its COVID-19 policies is copied below.
