Arizona child care centers struggle to survive during virus

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Less than a third of Arizona’s preschools and child care centers remain open as the industry struggles with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Requests for child care remain low despite Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s call for Arizona to gradually reopen following a temporary statewide closure of nonessential businesses in March, The Arizona Daily Star reported Saturday.

There are approximately 2,500 licensed child care centers, preschools and in-home providers in Arizona and about 800 of those are currently open.

Facilities operating under federal Centers for Disease Control guidelines have limited classroom groups to no more than 10, including teachers.

Ducey ordered the state Department of Economic Security to continue reimbursing providers serving eligible children at the rates they received in January for each child, whether the center is open or not, said Michelle Crow, Southern Arizona director for advocacy group Children’s Action Alliance.

“There is just no question that child care is the backbone of anything related to Arizona’s reopening strategy,” Crow said.

Michelle Saint Hilarie, senior program director for the Child & Family Resources organization, said the number of closures is “terrifying” and worries that more centers and schools will collapse over time.

Emily McCrea, director of Downtown Community School Inc. in Tuscon, said her business was supported almost entirely by tuition and about $15,000 in annual fundraising.

The school lost all but a handful of clients as a result of the health crisis and closed after an unsuccessful application for federal relief aid, she said.

“Most of us are very fragile operations, and that’s really been highlighted in all this,” McCrea said.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.