Characteristics of COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks at Child Care Facilities — District of Columbia, July–December 2020

Abstract

The occurrence of cases of COVID-19 reported by child care facilities among children, teachers, and staff members is correlated with the level of community spread (1,2). To describe characteristics of COVID-19 cases at child care facilities and facility adherence to guidance and recommendations, the District of Columbia (DC) Department of Health (DC Health) and CDC reviewed COVID-19 case reports associated with child care facilities submitted to DC Health and publicly available data from the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) during July 1-December 31, 2020. Among 469 licensed child care facilities, 112 (23.9%) submitted 269 reports documenting 316 laboratory-confirmed cases and three additional cases identified through DC Health's contact tracers. Outbreaks associated with child care facilities,(†) defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed and epidemiologically linked cases at a facility within a 14-day period (3), occurred in 27 (5.8%) facilities and accounted for nearly one half (156; 48.9%) of total cases. Among the 319 total cases, 180 (56.4%) were among teachers or staff members. The majority (56.4%) of facilities reported cases to DC Health on the same day that they were notified of a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, by staff members or parents.(§) Facilities were at increased risk for an outbreak if they had been operating for <3 years, if symptomatic persons sought testing ≥3 days after symptom onset, or if persons with asymptomatic COVID-19 were at the facility. The number of outbreaks associated with child care facilities was limited. Continued implementation and maintenance of multiple prevention strategies, including vaccination, masking, physical distancing, cohorting, screening, and reporting, are important to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in child care facilities and to facilitate a timely public health response to prevent outbreaks.(¶).