Child care programs in GTA-area schools will be closed for the next three weeks in the wake of the province’s decision Thursday to suspend classes until April 5 to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

All school-based permits, March Break camps and other activities, such as continuing education, will also be cancelled, the school boards announced Friday.

Meanwhile, Toronto wants all licensed child care centres in the city to suspend operations, a move that could impact another 618 centres for a total of almost 80,000 children. There are 432 child care centres in Toronto public and Catholic schools.

But for now, 47 city-run centres will be closed until April 5, said city spokesperson Brad Ross.

“The (Toronto) Medical Officer of Health recommends all licensed daycares should close,” he said in an email late Friday.

Some home care operators may choose to remain open, Ross said, adding parents should check with their providers.

School boards said they were closing child care centres to help contain the global coronavirus pandemic.

“We recognize that these closures and cancellations will be challenging for many families, especially those with limited child care options and/or work flexibility,” said John Malloy, education director for the Toronto District School Board.

“However, this approach is to ensure the health and well-being of all families and is consistent with the ministerial order to close schools and the decisions of many other school boards,” he said in an online statement to parents and guardians.

Carolyn Ferns with the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care praised Toronto area school boards for making “the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily close” school-based programs in response to the health crisis.

But she said confusion over community-based child care programs was “frustrating.”

“The province has a responsibility to provide a clear directive to close child care programs. What is already a stressful situation is being made more so by a lack of clarity,” she said.

“These centres are not covered either by the ministerial order to close schools or local school board decisions,” Ferns said.

“This leaves the decision to close to individual child care programs, often governed by volunteer boards of directors, who experience immense pressure to remain open,” she said. “How are small child care parent boards supposed to handle this level of responsibility and liability?

“Is social distancing not equally important for community-based child care programs?” she asked.

In addition to clarity on community-based child care programs, Ferns said Ottawa and the province should provide financial support and paid sick days to ensure parents are able to care for their children and respect social distancing protocols.

School boards in Peel, Durham and York regions have also closed child care programs, as have boards in Ottawa, Waterloo, Peterborough and Sudbury.

In a memo to child care operators Friday, the education ministry noted child care programs have not been ordered to close and that the decision to keep schools open for child care and other programs remains up to local school boards.

“Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, is asking that all licensed child care centres actively check children, parents, staff and visitors for any symptoms and ask about recent travel history that may be related to COVID-19,” said Shannon Fuller, assistant deputy minister responsible for early years and child care.

“Dr. Williams advises that parents continue to monitor their children’s health and keep children who are unwell at home. Dr. Williams also recommended that families that travel outside of Canada keep their children home for 14 days,” she said in the memo.

Donna Spreitzer, director of Jackman Community Daycare, in Jackman Avenue Junior Public School in Riverdale said she is relieved the TDSB has taken the decision away from centres in schools. But she wonders centres will pay their staff if they are closed.

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“We have an emergency closing plan that includes epidemics. We tell parents that for about two weeks, if we had to close for an emergency, we’d ask them to continue to pay fees, so we could pay the staff,” she said. “But not every centre has that.”

Michelle Strople, director of the Children’s Circle Daycare that serves 177 children from birth to age 12 at St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, said her parent board has decided to keep the centre open next week, but close for the following two weeks.

“We are doing this to be prudent and to keep our children, staff and the community safe,” she said Friday afternoon. “But we know parents need care and staying open next week gives them a little time to figure things out.”

The board has agreed to pay staff for the two weeks the centre is closed, but no decision has been made on whether parents will get a fee rebate, she said.

“We are really going day to day,” Strople added.