September 25, 2020
Dear Austin-Travis County Child Care providers:
Please visit http://austintexas.gov/page/child-care where Austin Public Health has posted information for child care programs. This web page includes links to the City of Austin/Travis County Guidance for Open Child Care Programs and to the two parent verification forms, Health Screening Questions for Newly Enrolling Children and Previous Child Care Information for Newly Enrolling Children. There are also links to these three documents in Spanish.
Please note that these three documents have recently been updated.
The updates that have been made are:
- The wording of the City of Austin/Travis County Guidance for Open Child Care Programs has been broadened to apply both to programs located in the City of Austin and those in Travis County. This is because on September 23, 2020, Travis County Judge Biscoe issued a supplement to a previous order requiring compliance with this guidance.
- The wording about the face covering requirement has been edited to say that “Children age 10 and older” are required to wear face coverings. This changes was made to make clear that the requirement includes 10 year olds and aligns with the Health Authority's emergency rules.
- The wording of the Previous Child Care Information for Newly Enrolling Children form has been expanded to include information about a child’s previous school or child care program. The purpose of this form is to identify children who may have been a close contact in a child care program or school and may need to quarantine before beginning care in a new program.
The child care web page also has a link to the sample letter child care programs can use to inform families if there is a COVID-19 case in the program. Check back to the child care web page at http://austintexas.gov/page/child-care again soon, as we will be posting copies of the sample letter in 8 additional languages shortly.
As a reminder, if you are in need of supplies, complete this form and we will do all we can to try to help meet your supply needs. Thank you for your hard work and dedication each and every day. We recognize and appreciate all the extra precautions you are taking to keep children, child care staff, and their families safe and healthy!
Austin Public Health
