COVID-19 Related Resources for Child Care Providers

To support child care providers affected by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, the City of Irvine has gathered the following resource links. These links are for organizations outside the City, and are collected here for your convenience. For more information on the City’s measures to prevent spread in our community, visit cityofirvine.org/covid19.​

Essential Protective Gear and Supplies

OC Emergency Child Care Task Force

If your child care program is open or plans to reopen soon PLEASE make sure your program information is updated in the searchable database of currently open child care centers and family child care homes compiled by Early Childhood OC, even if your program is already listed on the City of Irvine child care webpage. This list is utilized by the OC Emergency Child Care Task Force to communicate distribution of cleaning supplies as well as for families to find child care. The task force anticipates two additional distributions of cleaning and personal hygiene supplies (disinfectant spray, masks (child/adult), hand sanitizer, liquid soap, thermometers, etc.) by the end of August.

If you are open (or plan to open in the next two weeks), and have not done so already, please complete this form: Early Childhood OC COVID-19 Child Care Questionnaire.

Also, please ensure that both Children’s Home Society of CA and Community Care Licensing has your updated contact information including phone number and email. 

CCL: 714-703-2800
CHS: 714-456-9800

Announcement from California Department of Education

Dear Early Learning and Care Programs:

On July 9, 2020, the CDE, ELCD released an announcement providing information on where early learning and care (ELC) programs may go to access essential protective gear and cleaning supplies. This notice is to update that announcement by providing additional information on available resources:

In the interest of maximizing public health, priority for all supplies should be given to all providers, including tribal child care, school-based care, and exempt care providers, that are open and actively serving children and families.

  • Roughly 1.1 million disposal surgical masks are included in these planned shipments.
  • The hand sanitizer is in 8-ounce bottles.
  • Available gloves may be made of latex, so please be aware if users of the gloves have latex allergies. Note that glove count is per glove unless noted otherwise.
  • 10,000 no-touch, battery-operated thermometers also will be available at your Resource and Referral (R&R) program within the next two weeks. These thermometers will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, with a limit of two per center and one per family child care home or license-exempt provider.
  • The State will continue to assess the needs of the ELC community and to support ELC programs by facilitating the delivery of essential protective gear and supplies necessary to continue to serve children and families. ELC programs may be asked to participate in occasional surveys to assess the ongoing need for essential protective gear. The State appreciates your participation in these surveys.

Thank you for continuing to provide services to children and families during this challenging time. For questions regarding supply distribution, please contact your local R&R program.

Irvine providers – the R&R for Orange County is the Children’s Home Society of California (CHS), email: OCCase@chs-ca.org.  The materials listed above are separate from the funding available to providers through the  CLEANING AND SUPPLIES FOR CHILD CARE PROVIDERS (CSCP) SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM also administered by CHS.

Follow-up: FDA Warning About the Dangers of Hand Sanitizers With Methanol

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recent urgent warning to consumers and health care providers about hand sanitizer products that are labeled as containing ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but that have tested positive for methanol contamination. Methanol (i.e., methyl alcohol or wood alcohol) is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested and can be life-threatening when ingested. As per the FDA news update hyperlinked below, “Methanol is not an acceptable active ingredient for hand sanitizers and must not be used due to its toxic effects. The FDA’s investigation of methanol in certain hand sanitizers is ongoing. The agency will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

The FDA updated the original list of more than 24 hand sanitizer products to avoid, now listing 75 such products to avoid on the FDA Updates on Hand Sanitizers web page at https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-methanol; those products can be viewed either by clicking on the “Methanol Contaminated Products List” button at the top of the webpage or by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and then by clicking on any or all eight pages listing the 75 hand sanitizer products.

As with the original list of hand sanitizer products to avoid, all 75 products are potentially toxic when absorbed through the skin.  Please see the FDA news update on hand sanitizers with methanol and the current list of hand sanitizer products to avoid at https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-methanol for more detailed information.

General Information

*Per State of California Community Care Licensing Division PIN 20-15 issued July 15, 2020, providers are to be following the guidance, linked above, released by the Governor’s Office developed in collaboration with The California Department of Public Health, Department of Social Services, and Cal-OSHA.

Program Open/Reopening

Scroll down to EveryChild California Webinars to view the following resources: “Opening and Reopening Webinar”, PowerPoint, COVID-19 Re-opening Checklist, Safety Health Guidance, CDC Health Check.

Guidance and customizable forms from Child Care Aware. Click the link then scroll down under the photo and blog post to find list of linked documents for download.

Keep your staff and families safe and healthy! Watch these free trainings on California Early Childhood Online (CECO). To access, log in to CECO, go to "Browse All Modules", and select COVID-19 to access "COVID-19 Health & Safety" and "Trauma-Informed Care: Nurturing Resilience and Connection During COVID-19". When finished, participants can download a COVID-19 Health and Safety Certificate.

Printable step-by-step directions, cleaning routine sample schedule, and general health guidance.

Includes cleaning and disinfecting information as well as additional guidance to plan, prepare and respond.

Reports on the Status of Child Care

Financial Resources