Most people think of them as little germ factories. But so far, child care centers seem to have escaped the brunt of the H1N1 flu outbreak in Minnesota, surprising even the experts.
While schools have been hotbeds of illness, many day-care centers have noticed only a slight uptick in sick kids, according to interviews with child-care providers, nurses and state officials.
The lesson, they say, is that all that attention to toddler hygiene may have really paid off.
"Child-care centers have kind of gotten a bad rap," said Michelle Hahn, a St. Cloud nurse who works with early-childhood programs. The reality, she and others say, is that they tend to be much more vigilant about cleaning and sanitizing than schools -- or workplaces.
No one keeps precise statistics on flu outbreaks at day-care centers. But there's a consensus that they haven't mirrored the level of illness that has swept through schools, where absenteeism rates reached 25 percent or higher. "I personally expected the same thing to happen in day care," said Kay Stennes of the Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency, which works with 200 day-care centers on health issues. "I think we've been pleasantly surprised."
Franci Livingston, an infection-control specialist at the Minnesota Department of Health, agrees. "We've actually gotten surprisingly few reports," said Livingston, who helped draft flu guidelines for day-care centers. "We're finding this interesting as well."
At day-care centers large and small, the reports have been similar.
Ladybug Child Care, which has centers in Chaska and Waconia, saw just "a little blip" of flu-like illness, said Michelle Kraus, who runs the family-owned business with her mother. "For all the talk, I just thought it would be worse."
At New Horizon Academy's center in downtown Minneapolis, only three cases have surfaced among 115 students, said director Heidi Oppegard. "We kept it to a minimum," she added.
In theory, day-care centers should be a flu bug's paradise. Young kids are notorious for sneezing and drooling and putting toys in their mouths -- all ideal for transmitting viruses.
But ever since the new virus began circling the globe last spring, many centers have stepped up their germ-fighting efforts, including an almost obsessive focus on hand-washing.
At New Horizon's Laurel Village site in Minneapolis, drinking fountains have been turned off for now (because kids love to lick the spouts), said director Oppegard. Every morning, parents are required to wash each child's hands at "dropoff," and teachers have incorporated hand-washing games into the curriculum.
On Tuesday, teacher Melissa Hubbard reminded her six preschool students to sing their ABC's while washing up before lunch (to make sure they scrubbed long enough.) She also used a black light and special soap, called GlitterBug Potion, to show where they'd left germs behind on their skin.
"Audrey, how many times did you wash your hands?" Miss Hubbard asked 4-year-old Audrey Notsch.
"Um, 41?" the girl replied.
"I don't think [so]," Miss Hubbard laughed.
But Oppegard said she's not far off. "Every time we turn around, we're washing our hands."
Mary Terrass, vice president of New Horizon, said all 52 locations follow strict rules on sanitizing surfaces, equipment and toys. "We think a lot of these practices are helping to keep our children safe," said Terrass.
Some day-care centers have also become more vigilant about sending sick kids home, although that can be tricky.
State guidelines are stricter for day-care centers than for schools: children with flu-like illness are supposed to stay home from day-care for at least seven days, while school kids can return to class 24-hours after their fever disappears.
Krista Morey, director of Little Folks Daycare in Crystal, said some parents have tried to send kids back sooner, but she stood firm. "I'm not in the business of sending kids home just for fun," she said, "but if kids are sick, they're sick." She knows that can be a hardship, especially for parents living "paycheck to paycheck." But she doesn't want to risk infecting others, she said. "A rule's a rule."
Last month, she even had to tell that to her own sister when her 22-month-old niece, Elle, got a fever and cough. Turns out, the girl was just teething; her fever disappeared quickly and a new molar popped out soon after, said Elle's mom, Katie Morey. But day care was still off limits for a week. "I was stuck," said Katie. "Krista couldn't make the exception, even for me."
At some sites, staffers check out the kids as they arrive, looking for signs of illness. Sometimes, parents "will dose up their child with Tylenol" to mask a fever, said Hahn, the nurse consultant. But when the medicine wears off, she said, "they're going to get another phone call from the child-care center saying your child has a fever, come get them."
At the same time, many providers say parents have been extremely cooperative, keeping their kids home during the pandemic. That, too, has helped prevent outbreaks.
But Kraus, of Ladybug Child Care, says it's too soon to declare victory. "I think we're in this nice little lull," she said. "I'm waiting to see what happens in January and February."
Maura Lerner --612-673-7384 To see more of the Star Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.startribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Star Tribune, Minneapolis Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Star Tribune, Minneapolis