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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 10, 2022 10:05 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Michele Brooks |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Requiring Notification and Procedures for Additions to the Communicable Disease List |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to address an issue impacting our child care centers, parents, families, pediatricians, and health systems. According to the Department of Human Services’ Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), COVID-19 was added to the state’s communicable disease list which triggered a requirement in their regulations that a child must have a physician’s note to return to a child care facility or center. When asked, the Department of Health noted that COVID-19 was added to the communicable disease list by their epidemiologists back in January 2020, despite the fact that there were no reported cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania until late February. However, OCDEL did not become aware of the update to the list or that the office was in conflict with its own regulations until December 2021. The OCDEL regulatory requirement was issued to child care providers in a bulletin on December 20th and requires that a child must have a physician’s approval to return to their child care provider to satisfy these requirements. The burden that this has created on our physician practices, for families, and pediatricians is cumbersome. Families are told not to bring their well children into doctor offices and to utilize at-home testing for COVID-19 should the child have a positive exposure to the virus. At-home tests are not reported – families are not able to get a doctor’s note if they are testing their children at-home and/or if they are not seen by a doctor for the positive exposure. Essentially, well-visits are in short supply, families are utilizing increased access to at-home test, and parents are missing work because their children cannot return to child care. The impact is then also felt by the child care providers themselves. My legislation seeks to remedy this situation by requiring more stringent notifications and procedures relating to any addition made by the Department of Health to the state's communicable disease list. Such measures are intended to resolve the lack of communication from DOH to prevent future oversight and unnecessary shifts in regulatory policies for child care providers, physicians, and young families. Please join me in resolving this important issue. |