KYLE, (Texas) — The Texas Governor says child care facilities are essential but some cities, like Kyle, have ordered them to close during the pandemic.
Kyle’s mayor says the governor’s orders still give municipalities the flexibility to make that decision.
But the empty child care parking lots plus stationary school buses equal one big challenge for clinical therapist, Rachael Sherman.
“My job is direct contact only, so I have to be able to do assessments and things like that,” she says.
Her husband is also an essential employee, working for the post office.
With daycares in Kyle closed, the two have been struggling to care for their 4-month-old, Dallas.
At times, with no choice but to bring him into work with her.
“It’s scary, you know as a parent you want to make the right choices and keep your child safe but at the same time, work is essential for us. We have to work, we depend on that income,” Sherman says.
Governor Greg Abbott says child care facilities are necessary for workers like the Shermans.
“We need to be able to provide these child care services at a minimum for those who provide the essential services and the power on, the water running in your community,” Abbott told KXAN on Thursday.
But Kyle’s mayor says he consulted with the Texas attorney general’s office before passing an emergency ordinance this week to keep those facilities closed.
He addressed opposition on facebook, saying “…We must all find a way to care for our children without co-mingling essential workers’ families together.”
“It just really doesn’t make sense to me,” Sherman says.
She says that safety measure is misdirected.
“Especially when you drive by Home Depot or Lowe’s and people are buying flowers and there’s hundreds of people there on Saturday and there’s no temperatures being taken, no precautions.”
“There were only five babies in my son’s class. Adults weren’t allowed to go into the building, they were picking the baby up like outside and they were taking his temperature, doing wipe-downs. I felt good about it, I felt safe,” Sherman says.
For child care facilities still open in other cities, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services still has safety guidelines.
They include picking up and dropping off children outside of the building, taking the temperature of everyone that comes inside and restricting child-to-employee ratios to maintain safe distances.
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