MONTREAL -- As of Monday, children in groups of 10 or less in Quebec daycares will no longer have to respect physical distancing rules between one another or their educators.
However, adults will still have to follow the two-metre guideline while in a day care centre.
Daycares outside of the Montreal, Joliette, and l’Épiphanie regions will also be able to operate at 100-per-cent capacity as of Monday; this applies to home daycare providers as well.
“This good news offers more children the ability to return to their usual childcare, giving parents a better family-work balance,” said Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe in a statement on Thursday. “The abolition of distancing also allows children to find an environment free of constraints.”
Lacombe says these changes will favour the social and emotional development of children.
Basic hygiene measures like regular handwashing, coughing into your elbow, and wearing personal protective equipment when the two-metre rule can’t be respected (for adults) will remain intact.
Daycares in the regions exempt from this new phase will still have to operate at 50 per cent capacity, and home daycare providers will still only be allowed to watch four children at a time.
Health officials say this may change as of June 29, but it will depend on whether or not the COVID-19 situation in the province will allow it.
