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I have been working on my policies and I was wondering what your Chicken pox policy was, if you don't mind sharing.
I have had them twice myself. The last time I got them the doctor told me to stay home from work for 7 days.
How long if at all do you ask the parents to keep their kids home?
Isn't there a vaccine for that now? I honestly don't recall hearing of anyone around who has had it recently?
there is a vaccine, but it doesn't always work.
My friends son got the pox last year and he had the vaccine. There are also a lot of parents who will not get their kids vaccinated.
I am under the impressing that the chicken pox virus is contagious before the rash breaks out. I think that the policy in schools is to keep the child at home until all the sores have scabbed over. In a daycare setting I would say once they are completely scabbed over and only if child isn't irritable. If a child comes back and can't tolerate the itching it is going to be difficult for the child to participate and may drastically change their temperment resulting in a disrupted group. I'd advise parents to send calamine lotion so if there are any super itchy spots you can put some on in these areas to provide some good relief.
the blisters are full of liquid/pussy stuff. This liquid can spread the virus. if a child scratches and brakes open a blister, gets the liquid on their hand they can spread it to someone else. they can even cause themselves to have a fresh brake out of blisters ( I did this :()
Public Health policy in my area anyway is that children with Chicken pox can return to school/daycare once able to fully able to participate in the program ... there is no 'exclusion' for them anymore :(
That said ... most daycare centre I have worked in now EXCEED that recommendation because it was found that allowing children to remain in care WITH the open sores resulted in children who did not get the first or second round of them to get a REALLY BAD case once their immune systems finally succumb to the disease the first year they changed that public health exclusion of 5-7 days until ALL scabs were covered over the centre I worked at had 4 children hospitalized for severe 'secondary' issues from the chicken pox ... one kid nearly died from some chicken pox of the bone complication!
My policy requires children to be home until 'any open soars not covered by clothing / diaper' to be scabbed over cause yes they are contagious before through coughing/sneezing so the other kids might have already been exposed anyway but they are STILL and issue AFTER through direct contact with an oozing sore ... so I prefer them to be home until they are scabbed over but empathize that sometimes the 'sweaty areas' covered by diapers and clothes take way longer to actually 'scab' so as long as they are covered and do not poss a direct contact risk to other kids I let em return.
That said I have not had any pox come through in all my years of being open thankfully!