Dear HUB Parents/Guardians,

On April 7th, 2021, the Government announced a province-wide stay-at-home order beginning April 8th for at least four weeks until May 20th, 2021 in response to worsening trends in key community health indicators across the province.

With direction from the Ministry of Education, Prince Edward-Lennox and Addington Social Services (PELASS) is collaborating with The HUB to facilitate Emergency Child Care for eligible parents of school age children. This service is provided at no costs to families, funded by the Province of Ontario. To see the list of eligibility and details of criteria, visit PELASS website here.

EarlyON Centres cannot offer in-person programming during this period, but do continue to offer virtual programming. Day camps are also closed during this period.

As we head into this time-limited Government action, we want to highlight the importance of continuing to follow Public Health and safety protocols in child care settings and in your day-to-day activities. With nicer weather around the corner, it is more important than ever that we continue to be diligent in this respect; to keep COVID-19 from spreading in our Community and ensuring schools and child care settings stay open and safe.

As a reminder at this critical point in the pandemic, we ask you to continue follow these guidelines if your children attend early years and child care programs:

·  Screening every day for COVID-19 symptoms before attending child care. (The COVID-19 School and Child Care Screening Tool is available to assist families with symptom screening)

·  Practicing good hand hygiene habits throughout the day

·  Practicing physical distancing

·  Providing a non-medical mask or face covering for your child to wear each day (masking is mandatory for all children in Grades 1 and above, and recommended for children age 2 to Senior Kindergarten)

·  Avoiding sharing objects, toys, food, water bottles or other personal items.

Outside of child care settings, we encourage families to continue to:

·  Socialize with your own household

·  Activities or playdates with those outside your household, should be held outdoors and limited to no more than five people, with physical distancing and masking where distancing is not possible

·  Stay home and be tested if you feel ill

·  Refrain from travelling

·  Refer to Ontario.ca/covidresponse to learn what Public Health measures are in place in our community and based on the COVID-19 response framework. We also suggest checking out Hastings Prince Edward Public Health website as it offers helpful resources and supports.

Pharmacies that currently offer testing and assessment centres across the province will accept appointments for children attending child care and child care staff for asymptomatic testing. The Ministry of Education will be working with school boards to offer school-based clinics. Parents are encouraged to take advantage of this testing capacity and have their children tested to support a safe return to school and continued safe operation of child care.

Please stay at home as much as possible and continue following the direction of Public Health officials, so we can keep schools, early years and child care programs open. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you for your efforts in these unprecedented times. There will be no fees for sick days throughout May. 

Sincerely,

Susan Quaiff, RECE, Executive Director