PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Governor Mike DeWine ordered dramatic changes to daycares to help stop the spread of the coronavirus during a press conference Sunday.
All daycares will be closed starting Thursday except for those approved for a temporary pandemic child care license from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
Local daycares looking to stay open are adjusting to new changes.
DeWine's order includes new standards such as limiting drop-off of your kids at the door or lobby of the daycare.
Kidz Watch in Perrysburg has signs up on its door with those changes for parents and also urging them to keep kids who are showing symptoms, at home.
Owner Kim Limes said Monday morning was a bit hectic.
"A little bit crazy, we've had several people calling in, scrambling around trying to figure out if we're open," she said.
Limes stressed she wanted to stay open to help the community, so she applied for the temporary pandemic care license last week. She said she got approved within a day and stated the biggest change is the limit on children in a room.
"You're only allowed to have six children per room," she said. "Which means if you have three rooms in your building, unless you can divide those off and provide 35 square feet per child, you're limited."
She added she understands the new measures and they're working to best take advantage of their facilities. They have four rooms and should be able to accommodate up to 24 kids. Before the health outbreak, they normally saw around 25 to 35 children, but Monday they had just seven.
The staff continues to take everyone's temperature that comes in as well as disinfect, wash hands and use hand sanitize constantly.
Limes believes DeWine made the right choice in allowing some daycares to stay open. She said essential workers that don't have any family or someone to watch their children need this service.
"You know they have to prove basically that what field they're in, if they're a essential worker, so we don't just have random people coming in," she said. "We are really just utilizing for the people that still have to work for the resources because they literally have no one to watch their kids."
Limes said they will remain open as long as this outbreak goes on.