Survey Results: COVID-19 Spread in Daycares and Preschools

Is child care safe? Do kids spread COVID-19 in daycare or preschool? Can I send my child back to daycare? Do teachers spread COVID-19? Is it safe for teachers to return to school?

These are the questions that are top of mind for parents and staff as daycares and preschools across the country reopen their doors and the school year begins in the fall. At Winnie, a marketplace for parents to find preschools and daycares near them, we have data on the real-time operating status of thousands of child care businesses across the country.  At the peak of the pandemic, around 50% of daycares were operating. Now over 75% are operating, with more planning to open in the coming weeks and months.

To better understand the safety of daycare, Winnie teamed up with economist Dr. Emily Oster of Brown University to survey providers on the incidence of COVID-19 in the daycares and preschools that have been operating throughout the pandemic. The goal was to understand how COVID-19 spreads in a daycare or preschool setting.

Survey setup and limitations

• In collaboration with Dr. Emily Oster, Winnie sent a survey to 200k licensed daycares and preschools on its platform. The survey questions are listed below.
• This was not a scientific study and relied on self-reporting by the daycares. There are asymptomatic cases that are likely to go unreported/underreported.

Survey results

• 983 licensed child care providers responded (this included both centers and licensed in-home providers) serving a total of 27,497 children
• 42 confirmed cases in students (0.15%)
• 107 confirmed cases in staff (1.10%)
• Raw data here 

Key takeaways

• Child care is relatively safe for adults and children. The reported case rate in children in daycare is actually LOWER than the overall confirmed case rate in children in the United States population based on information from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The reported case rate in adult daycare staff is also LOWER than the overall confirmed case rate in the United States according to the CDC. Although this survey is not a scientific study, these results are encouraging!
• But child care settings are not immune to COVID-19. The higher the community spread in your area, the greater the risk that someone is going to bring covid into your daycare. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to the question of whether daycare is “safe” and it’s very important to understand the health and safety measures your particular daycare is taking to understand how likely it is that someone who brings in covid will actually spread it.
• Adults fare worse than young children by all measures. Although childcare is relatively safe for both children and staff, a staff member is 7x more likely than a child to have covid based on the data collected in the survey. We also know that COVID-19 affects young children and adults differently and is more likely to be life-threatening to an adult. 

Next steps and further reading

How this applies to school age settings is still unclear. We do know that age does make a difference when it comes to the severity of COVID-19 and possibly also the risk of transmission. Therefore, it’s hard to say whether the data on childcare settings — which typically serve children ages 0-5 — can be applied to settings with older children.

You can also read this explanation of the data from Dr. Emily Oster  and stay tuned for the larger Yale University Study coming soon on this same topic.

Survey questions

• State
• County
• Which age groups do you serve? (Check all that apply)
• 6 weeks - 6 months
• 6 months - 1 year
• 1 to 2 years
• 2 to 4 years
• 5 to 10 years
• Over 10
• Do you have one center or multiple centers?
• Single
• Multiple
• What is the total population of children you typically serve at one time? 
• What is your teacher student ratio? 
• Please indicate how you were open during the pandemic?
• Open the whole time
• Closed for a portion
• How many students did you serve during the pandemic?
• How many staff members did you have working during the pandemic (including the director if applicable)?
• If you were closed for a portion, please indicate your open dates.
• How many confirmed cases of COVID-19 did you have in your student population?
• How many confirmed cases of COVID-19 did you have in your staff population?