View PDF [387 KB, 1 Page, 508]
What to do when a child in your early care and education (ECE) program might have COVID-19.
DAY 0
Child is sick with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or has a positive COVID-19 test.
DAYS 1–5
Child stays home and isolates away from other people to the extent possible.
DAY 6
Is the child fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication?
AND
Is the child free of symptoms or have symptoms improved?
AND
Is the child 2 years of age or older and able to consistently wear a mask in the ECE program? OR Did the child have two negative antigen tests 48 hours apart?
DAYS 6–10
It is safest to continue isolation until the end of day 10 [ 1 ].
AFTER DAY 10
Return to the ECE program. For children who were severely ill, or whose fever persists past day 10, or who continue to test positive using an antigen test, consult a healthcare professional before returning to the ECE program.
Children returning from isolation should wear a high-quality mask around others through day 10. If the ECE program is using a test-based strategy, children who have two negative antigen tests 48 hours apart after ending isolation may remove their mask sooner than day 10. Whenever possible, keep distance between children who are returning from isolation before day 11 and others, especially people who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19.
[ 1 ] For program administrators: When you determine isolation policies, you should consider multiple factors: The impact of the loss of access to education and care on the well-being of children and families, COVID-19 Community Levels, presence of other people who are at high risk for severe illness, and the ability to use additional prevention strategies.
To receive email updates about this topic, enter your email address:
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.