EXCERPT: “Sandy Thielen is still hesitant to reopen her home daycare business after closing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She misses the kids and the day-to-day routine of the job, she says, but she’s concerned for the safety of her family. Having 10 extra children around, plus their parents at drop-off and pick-up times, ups her own family’s odds of being exposed to the virus. ‘My mother lives with us, and both me and my mother have diabetes … and my son and husband both have asthma, so it was just too much of a risk for me to stay open,’ Thielen says. The Detroit Lakes provider is still in contact with her daycare families, and would like to reopen soon, but with COVID cases on the rise and the possibility of schools remaining closed this fall, she’s not sure she’ll be able to. ‘I have two kids of my own that would be attending school, so I’d be splitting my time between helping them (with their online learning) and 10 other kids,’ she says. ‘That’s going to be nearly impossible.’ She’s not alone in that thought. Jethe Winter, another Detroit Lakes in-home daycare provider, has three kids of her own, ages 8 to 15, and she says she might have to make some adjustments to her business model if schools don’t reopen.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/314f5Gd
