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THIS WEEK'S
HEADLINES
NEWS IMPACTING CHILDREN 0-5 AND THEIR FAMILIES
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NOTE: THE FIRST 5 KERN OFFICES ARE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PLEASE REACH OUT TO US VIA EMAIL FOR QUESTIONS OR INFORMATION REGARDING OUR FUNDED PROGRAMS.
Here is a quick look at some headlines from this week impacting the lives of kids 0-5 and their families. The purpose of these stories is simply to inform, and they do not necessarily reflect First 5 Kern's areas of support or efforts towards these issues.
Follow First 5 Kern on social media (@First5Kern) for more kids news, as well as information about our funded programs and initiatives.
Now for the headlines........
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EARLY CHILDCARE & EDUCATION
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READY OR NOT, A NEW ERA OF HOMESCHOOLING HAS BEGUN
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Like it or not, we are suddenly a nation of home schoolers, with little preparation. The rapidly spreading coronavirus is instantly changing the way education is delivered, as school and home become the same place.
Millions more children and families are involuntarily joining the
1.7 million
kids already home-schooled by choice. “How to homeschool” is trending on Google. For many families, the switch is a crippling inconvenience. For others, it’s an even bigger catastrophe: they may not be able to afford proper meals for their children, much less the technology and connectivity needed for online learning. (
Hechinger Report)
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SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS FACE UNIQUE BARRIER WITH SCHOOL CLOSURES
JoAnna Van Brusselen’s 11-year-old daughter, Iolani, loves school and has been making great progress in her occupational and physical therapy. While living with cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, visual impairment and hydroencephalitis, she can walk. She can use her right hand, and she’s a whiz at reading and learning languages.
But now that her school in San Francisco Unified is closed for at least three weeks, Van Brusselen is worried her daughter will regress, losing the mobility and academic skills she had worked so hard to master. (EdSource)
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OHIO TO OPEN TEMPORARY PANDEMIC CHILD CARE CENTERS
The state of Ohio will begin issuing "temporary pandemic child care licenses" to ensure access to care for the children of those working in the health, safety and essential service fields amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) announced the guidance Tuesday, which will enable the agency to issue licenses enabling "pandemic child care centers" to operate under reduced regulations focused solely on the health and safety of children.
(Dayton Business Journal)
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CHILD CARE CENTERS NEED TO BE INCLUDED IN ECONOMIC PACKAGE
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There is no economic recovery without adequate child care, but that fact doesn’t seem to have dawned on investors or policymakers: The federal government’s proposed
$1 trillion economic stimulus
offers corporate tax cuts and business loans, but simply does not have the focus or longevity needed to save child care.
Under normal circumstances, two-thirds of parents require child care services to be able to work. And the price tag isn’t as bad as you might think:
one study estimates
annual parent fees for child care at $42 billion, a relative drop in the bucket given the size of stimulus packages under consideration. (Romper)
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KIDS GET MILD COVID-19 SYMPTOMS, BUT CHANCE OF TRANSMISSION IS HIGH
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A new Chinese study of coronavirus infection in kids could bring comfort to American parents -- and highlight the wisdom of at least temporarily closing schools.
That's because the study, published March 13 in
Nature Medicine
, found that even though children typically only exhibit mild symptoms if infected, they can shed the coronavirus long after symptoms disappear. (US News & World Report)
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UNDERSTANDING AND AVOIDING CORONAVIRUS FOR KIDS
Communicating with kids about Coronavirus is important to calm their fears and help them develop healthy habits. This website has created some worksheets for parents and teachers working with children in the coming weeks.
(K5 Learning)
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NOT ALL CHILDREN ARE SPARED FROM COVID-19
As cases of the
new coronavirus
disease, COVID-19, surge around the world, one curious observation has emerged:
Children seem to be largely unharmed
by the disease. But a new study suggests that not all children are spared — a small percentage of kids develop serious illness from COVID-19.
The study, published online March 16 in the journal
Pediatrics
, is the largest to date to examine the severity of COVID-19 in children. The researchers analyzed information from more than 2,000 confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 in children. (Live Science)
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PREGNANT WOMEN SEEM UNLIKELY TO PASS CORONAVIRUS TO THEIR BABIES
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Health officials are still learning about the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their babies. While there have been no widesprea
d studies, early anecdotal evidence shows pregnant women do not become more seriously ill than the rest of the population, and that mom-to-baby transmission is unlikely.
Still, pregnant women are considered a higher-risk population because of weakened immune systems and should be extra vigilant about hand washing and practicing social distancing, say health officials. (People)
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"IT'S A NIGHTMARE OUT HERE" - SEATTLE PARENTS STRUGGLE BETWEEN WORK AND CHILD CARE
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First the schools closed, then the babysitter canceled.
Jaime Fitch woke up on Monday to learn that her children’s caretaker had some symptoms of Covid-19, but not enough to get tested.
Her husband needed to work, too.
So they did what a lot of parents are doing during the school closures: multitask, play jiu-jitsu with their schedules and hope for the best.
This examination of daily life for parents in Seattle, where the coronavirus first took hold, is a peek into the immediate future for California families, who are only just now coming to grips with the closing of the child care system that anchors their daily lives and makes working possible.
(New York Times)
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KIDS STUCK AT HOME? HOW TO KEEP THEM STIMULATED
We asked experts to share ideas for activities for kids up to 5 years old, so younger children might need some extra help with a few of these.
"Above all, try to think about your time together as relationship-building instead of time-filling," said Eden Haywood-Bird, an assistant professor of early childhood studies at Cal Poly Pomona. "If your child isn't interested in an activity, don't force it." (LAist)
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PARENTS OF MEDICALLY FRAGILE CHILDREN BEG PEOPLE TO STOP HOARDING SUPPLIES
Families with medically fragile children have been frustrated by the run on supplies for coronavirus. These are items that they use every day to keep their children safe, which have been unavailable because everyone else is stockpiling them.
"There are very fragile senior citizens, people with blood disorders, children," said one parent. "You're putting their lives at risk from your hoarding behavior, please, I beg of you, stop." (Alive)
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DAILY STORYTIME ONLINE THROUGH THE KERN COUNTY LIBRARY
While the library has canceled all in-person programming, we are still here and excited to bring literacy to the Kern County community through virtual facebook live storytimes!
Join us every day we are open, Monday through Saturday, at times voted on by YOU as most convenient for you to tune in online.
Stay safe and healthy out there, and keep reading!
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First 5 Kern was established in 1998 when California voters passed Proposition 10, which levied a 50-cent tax on tobacco products. Revenues generated from the tobacco tax are used to fund local programs in the areas of health and wellness, early childcare and education, and parent education and support services that promote early childhood development for children ages zero to five.
For more information on First 5 Kern and the agencies we support, please visit
www.First5Kern.org
and follow us on social media.
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Special thanks to
Vecteezy
for assistance on graphics
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