As opposition grows, Quebec union calls on province to suspend new COVID rules for daycares

Opposition is growing to Quebec's new controversial rules about COVID-19 in childcare centres (CPEs), which exempt children and educators in contact with a positive case from isolating.

Under new rules quietly passed on to childcare services by Quebec's Family Ministry on Dec. 30, children and staff who have been in contact with an infected person at the daycare can continue to show up at the centre — provided they have no symptoms.

On Monday afternoon, a union representing 3,200 educators in CPEs called for Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe to follow the lead of Montreal Public Health and suspend the new directives.

"Child-care workers and staff work in close quarters within two metres of children aged zero to five who are neither vaccinated nor masked," said president of the Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec (FIPEQ-CSQ),  Valérie Grenon.

"We need to consider the unique nature of our services and get clear, science-based answers to reassure our members."

Earlier Monday, Montreal Public Health said it would be suspending the application of the new measures and would continue "to isolate moderate-risk contacts until further notice," a recorded message from the department said. 

Therefore, in Montreal CPEs, children and staff who have been in contact with a positive case at the daycare must still isolate for 10 days, per the province's directives before the holidays, regardless of their symptoms. Testing for the virus is also recommended before the return to daycare. 

Elsewhere in Quebec, according to the new directives, if a child in a group tests positive or if there are several cases reported in the same daycare, both children and staff who are asymptomatic are not required to get tested and may continue to frequent the facility. 

Until now, during the isolation period of a child who had been in contact with a positive case, parents were asked to get their child tested twice, even if they were asymptomatic. 

Quebec's relaxed rules have been widely criticized by some of the province's daycare operators and associations.

"I find this alarming," said Brigitte Prévost, general director of À Petits Pas CPE in Dorval, in a Monday morning interview. 

She says the government's new protocols are the wrong move, considering children in daycare are too young to be vaccinated, they don't wear masks and asking them to keep a two-metre distance is nearly impossible. 

"We risk finding ourselves with uncontrollable outbreaks," she said.

According to Radio-Canada, outside of Montreal, other regional public health directors have expressed their concerns about the new directives in CPEs and plan to follow the example of Montreal Public Health.