Is it impossible to prevent the spread of Flu in a Daycare? Not likely. While that’s so, it’s important to note that flu season is annual. Therefore, you need measures to keep it at bay every time this season is on. With simple practices like cleaning hands, disinfecting surfaces and toys, you can reduce its transmission among children. With that in mind, here are ways to keep daycare clean during flu season:
Limit Sharing of Items
Daycares often have tons of items for children to play with while in the facility. While this is a good thing, they can help spread the flu. These items provide surfaces where germs can dwell and transfer from one child to another.
Furthermore, kids love to place their playing items in the nose and mouth. And being a flu season, this could accelerate its spread among children when they share these items. Therefore, during flu season, consider providing each kid with a set of playing items.
Clean the Toys
Your center should have a policy that guides the frequency of cleaning toys. And not just cleaning, but disinfection of the toys as well. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, each toy from the child’s mouth must be cleaned and disinfected. Until then, it must be set aside.
Washing Hands Policy
This policy applies to both kids and the staff at the facility. It should indicate when the right time to wash hands for both parties is? For instance, staff should wash hands after handling every child. And this also applies after they change the kids’ diapers. When it comes to kids, they should wash their hands first before entering the facility. During eating time, they should also wash their hands.
Maintain All the Surfaces Clean
You’ll need disinfectant wipes to prevent flu contraction through contaminated surfaces. Further, the frequency of disinfecting the surfaces depends on the rate of touching it by the kids.
Clean Air
We often focus on maintaining germ-free surfaces that we forget about those floating in the air. Being a flu season, expect the contagious to be floating in the air especially if some children are sneezing. Luckily, there is a way to deal with germs in the air. Through the installation of air filters in the AC of your facility you can filter out the bacteria in the air. But that’s not all, dust, pollen, and animal dander will also be filtered out.
What’s more, you also need to ensure there’s proper aeration in the facility. You can go ahead and open some of the windows to allow the free flow of air. Lastly, on this point, remove carpet that might be trapping particles and enhancing contamination in the facility.
Learn to Identify This Illness
Can you or any of your daycare staff identify the symptoms of flu when a child has it? Every staff member in the facility needs to master this knowledge. This will prevent your facility from running out of children during the flu season.
Also, create a written policy that every sick child must recover from home. And always remind the parents not to bring their child to the facility if they are sick. In addition to this, provide a guiding policy on when it’s time to bring a child after recovery.
Send Staff and Sick Kids Home
Strict maintenance of health policy in your facility is crucial. It gives parents confidence that you do care about their children. Therefore, if a staff member or child is sick, take the necessary measures and send them home to recover.
Final Take
All the above practices are best for the general maintenance of a healthy daycare center. However, if you need to deep clean your facility and contain the spread of flu, call Tidy Team Cleaning Services. Through their experience in this field, they’ll leave your center sparkly and germs-free.