SALEM — While the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak has repeatedly led Gov. Kate Brown to restrict sectors of Oregon’s economy — from banning large gatherings to closing schools to turning restaurants into take-out windows — she has gone in the opposite direction and spoken of the importance of maintaining facilities responsible for the state’s youngest residents.

Brown has stated more than once that she sees preschools and day care centers as service providers that need to stay open to help critical workers, like doctors and police officers, stay on the job.

“We’re working on a plan for child care at least for essential workers,” Brown said at a recent press conference, “that there are day care sites available for them to go and be safe.”

Wednesday afternoon, state officials took a step in the same direction that it has with public schools by encouraging parents to keep their children under 5 years old at home. In statements released Wednesday, Oregon officials were clearly trying to maintain capacity for child care centers to support children of key people in efforts to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

”I want to stress that child care providers are serving as first responders, and families for whom child care is not absolutely necessary should keep their children at home to ensure these caregivers can serve those most in need,” Early Learning Division director Miriam Calderon said in a press release Wednesday.

At the same time that the state prioritized maintaining space for the children of emergency workers, the state laid out guidelines for how to run a daycare during a coronavirus outbreak. That guidance includes screening children for illness, specific hygiene requirements and directions on maintaining social distancing, including lowering student-teacher ratios.

Oregon’s Early Learning Division loosened rules earlier this week aimed at helping two important groups weather prolonged coronavirus “social distancing” rules: families with young children and the child care providers they rely on.

Specifically, the state raised the limits for financial assistance to pay for child care, at the same time it waived co-pays for participating families. The previous eligibility ceiling limited state assistance to families earning up to 185% of the federal poverty amount. The state has raised that limit to 250% of poverty, meaning a family of four can earn up to $5,899 per month and still qualify for state assistance through the Employment-Related Day Care program.

In part, Oregon officials are trying to avoid a high-risk domino effect if child care centers close. Adults in critical jobs such as nursing might stay home to supervise children if they don’t have a day care provider for their kids. Or parents might send children to stay with an older relative who’s considered at high risk of serious illness from coronavirus, which they could invisibly contract from an asymptomatic child.

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Child care providers face a bleak picture nationally, according to a survey completed earlier this week by the National Association for the Education of Young People, a professional organization of early childhood practitioners and policy experts. The survey found roughly half of providers are losing income already because of families that can’t pay, and one-quarter are losing money because of declining state reimbursement.

Oregon is trying to prop up child care providers by continuing the flow of state subsidies, even in the absence of children.

“Child care providers are able to continue to receive payments from DHS, even if children are unable to attend or if they have to temporarily shut down during the state of emergency,” the Early Learning Division said in a statement explaining its policy changes this week.

The new policies aimed at maintaining day care operations came the same day Brown extended the closure of public schools until April 28. However, when the governor made the long public school closure, she included a child care provision specifically regarding children of critical workers.

Brown’s executive order requires schools to provide “child care for first responders, emergency workers, health care professionals, and other individuals consistent with any guidance and requirements provided by the Oregon Department of Education.”

There is a balance the state is trying to strike.

A big reason public schools were closed is because administrators found it increasingly difficult to staff schools and provide substitutes when as many as one-sixth of licensed teachers in the state are age 60 or older and considered at high risk from the novel coronavirus.

The governor’s executive order acknowledges that risk, by saying the order should not be read “to require school employees in at-risk categories or public school employees who have an at-risk member of their household, to take action inconsistent with public health recommendations or the advice of the employee’s physician.”

Public health officials have continued to emphasize people work from home and avoid in-person contact as much as possible. At the same time, state officials realize critical workers need to leave their homes to deal with the rising numbers of Oregonians sickened by the coronavirus. And if they’re parents, they need places for their children to go, where they won’t infect people at particular risk, and thereby compound the region’s growing public health emergency.

SALEM — The rapidly-moving coronavirus has closed schools across Oregon and Washington, meaning a lot of us will be spending a lot of time indoors with our children.

1. What if I have a younger child in a private preschool or daycare? Has Gov. Brown shut those down too?

No. The Early Learning Division — the office within the Oregon Department of Education that supervises daycare centers and preschools — leaves opening and closing to individual providers and programs.

The division issued an update Friday March 13, entitled “childcare providers not required to close during state of emergency.” In that statement, the ELD director Miriam Calderon said “Child care is a critical support for working families, their children, and businesses[.] We know that child care programs will experience similar operational issues to K-12 schools, and we should anticipate that closures will happen. As long as families are working, we will support child care businesses to stay open.”

Washington officials have made a similar decision to allow preschools and daycare centers to remain open. As noted by the Seattle Times Monday, March 16, child care is “one of just a few commercial industries allowed to do so.”

Like much of what’s happening with coronavirus across the country, the situation is changing. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Monday that her office is concerned that if daycare centers closed, it could keep parents from doing critical jobs.

“We’re working on a plan for childcare at least for essential workers,” Brown told reporters at a press conference Monday, suggesting it could come out “in the next day or so.”

Bottom line: if you have a kid in daycare, check with that daycare to find out if they’re closing. If they’re still open, these things change quickly, so I’d make sure you know how they’ll communicate a closure.

2. What about play dates? They saved my sanity during snow days and I’m only hearing rules against large gatherings, not small ones.

Play dates are to be discouraged, actually. The whole point of social distancing (the public health concept of staying away from other people to reduce the spread of the virus) suggests staying at home, interacting with as few people as possible as the world rides out the virus. A recent article from Ariadne Labs (a public health think tank) is very clear saying “no kid play dates, parties, sleepovers, or families/friends visiting each other’s houses and apartments.”

3. It’s nice outside. Can I bring the kid outside?

Um, well… France just banned walks outside among its ever-tighter regulations to prevent the spread of coronavirus. But in general, public health experts say that playing outside is relatively benign, and if you must have a play date with other children, outside is preferred.

“Outside play should be encouraged, such as walking, bike-riding, and hiking,” Dr. Michelle Terry, a pediatrician and clinical professor at Seattle Children’s Hospital told KUOW.

4. Are my kids expected to keep studying while they’re out of school?

In short, yes. How formal that is varies a lot.

If your kid is in private school, many of those schools closed with the expressed expectation that remote learning would continue. As OPB’s Elizabeth Miller reported last week, “Catlin Gabel, Central Catholic, Oregon Episcopal School, Jesuit High School, St. Mary’s Academy, and Jesuit High have all announced plans to transition to digital learning Friday, March 13 or next week.”

If your kid is in public school, some teachers sent kids home on Friday March 13 with packets and specific assignments, so they could stay on track. Other teachers gave more general advice, like “read 30 minutes a day” or “use this app to stay on top of math.”

5. If my kid’s teacher didn’t give my kid a whole lot of guidance on what to do, what’s out there?

One of the most respected online learning tools is Khan Academy, which has a wide variety of free offerings, from toddlers to teenagers — particularly when it comes to math and science. For foreign language, duolingo is highly regarded.

You could also dig into history through the rich array of documentaries you can find through PBS, and other filmmakers. For Oregon and the Northwest, there’s lots of stuff produced by OPB.

6. How should I talk to my kids about coronavirus? I don’t have all the answers and I don’t want to freak them out. But what if they’re asking me why schools and libraries are closed, and why they can’t play with their friends or visit grandma?

It’s going to depend on the kid’s age, of course, but there’s a pretty good guide that National Geographic put together. That article notes that with very young children, they might not be asking questions and for them, there might be more risk in alarming them than benefit from explaining coronavirus. For kids who are a little older, the emphasis is for parents to “stay calm,” to emphasize that the risk to children is low (but for older folks like grandma it’s be higher), and that lots of people are working to get through this. And the best way for families to help is to keep that “social distance.”

If you’d rather have something that your kids can watch themselves – NPR has come out with a comic. A teacher even managed to turn the comic into a video with the help of some of his students. It has the benefit of being funny without shying away from what’s important.

7. What if me and the kids have had it up to here with this coronavirus, and we just want to think about something else for a while?

You’re in luck. OPB has been producing content that can take you far away from the confining confines of your home for decades. So if you’ve done about as much talking about coronavirus as your kid can bear, how about a bit of distraction, courtesy of Oregon Field Guide.

Not enough? Even more Field Guide goodies can be gotten at this playlist, especially compiled for the discerning younger viewer.

8. Anything else?

If you want more advice on how to talk to children about the health side of coronavirus, you should check out the FAQ that NPR’s Anya Kamenetz and Cory Turner put together. I love the first question: “How do I get my kids to stop touching their faces?” For adults, I feel like the best suggestion is “stop talking about how hard it is to stop touching your face.” (I’m not sold on my idea being the best for kids, but neither do I love Anya and Cory’s answers of painting kids’ faces or putting scratchy mittens on their hands, but I get it, we’re all doing the best we can…)

— Rob Manning, Oregon Public Broadcasting