A Gulf Breeze day care center has reported a case of COVID-19 in its infant room.

Lisa Gladwell, the owner of Seaside Child Development Center, said a parent told her Tuesday night that their child had tested positive for the illness. Staff immediately contacted the families who use the day care to alert them and to direct them to resources on what steps to take next.

The Florida Department of Health on Thursday evening reported that a baby boy from Santa Rosa County had tested positive for the coronavirus. The baby's case was not travel-related and the infant, whose age is listed as under 1 year old, did not come into contact with a previously confirmed case.

Debbie Lowery, director of the Seaside Child Development Center, said after much consideration, the day care's leadership team made the decision to close down the daycare on March 22. They remained open on Monday to inform the parents of their 45 children of the decision, and to give parents time to figure out their child care options.

"We struggled with it, because 50% of our parents are nurses and military, the ones who have to go to work because they are essential," Lowery said.

The day care closed on Tuesday, and the leadership learned of the reported positive case Tuesday night. There was a second report of a possible COVID-19 case involving a juvenile in their Pre-K classroom, but that test result came back negative.

Seaside received an update from the family of the infant that the child is fine and out of the hospital, the leadership team said.

Gladwell said the day care is in the process of hiring a firm to fully clean and disinfect their facilities.

Seaside routinely cleaned and sanitized their facilities throughout the day even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the owner and director said. Once the illness began to spread throughout the state, the day care stopped accepting children with fevers and coughs.

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Seaside is closed through at least April 9, but Gladwell said they would be watching new developments with the illness closely and making adjustments as necessary.

There are no blanket measures ordering closures of Florida day care centers, and facilities are having to balance health concerns with the legitimate child care needs of working families.

Gladwell noted that although closing the business would be tough on her and her employees financially, she said it was more critical to protect the health of the employees, parents and their little ones.

Lowery added, "We are one big happy family here. We just love the parents, and we don't want to do anything to hurt them."

Gladwell said parents with questions about the situation are welcome to contact her at 850-396-5191 or seaside@yahoo.com.

"We just want our parents to know we are doing the right thing," Gladwell said.

Kevin Robinson can be reached at krobinson4@pnj.com or 850-435-8527.