Children under age 12, the largest section of individuals not vaccinated for COVID-19, have begun returning to school and child care centers in the Chattanooga area as the delta variant sweeps through unvaccinated peoples.
With cases rising among children this summer, some child care centers in Hamilton County have had to close and quarantine due to outbreaks, along with reintroducing stricter COVID-19 protocols that were loosened before the variant spread.
The Hamilton County Department of Health is monitoring active clusters at three child care centers in the county, with each cluster linked to five or more active COVID-19 cases, a department official said Friday.
When outbreaks occur at child care centers, closing to quarantine creates a chain reaction for teachers and families, said Heather Hicks, director of Tennessee Child Care Resource and Referral Network and chief officer of statewide initiatives at Signal Centers.
“It will affect the wages received by the staff, it reduces the income coming into the child care agency, so you run the risk of having a financial crisis, and it puts families in a situation where they may or may not have leave available to take care of their children at home while the agency is closed, so they’re scrambling to find child care, which in turn is just a circle,” Hicks said.