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Central Georgia day care centers hit hard by pandemic

According to the Department of Early Care and Learning, nearly 30 percent of Georgia's child care centers are now closed due to the pandemic.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — COVID-19 has hit a lot of businesses hard, including day cares.

According to the Department of Early Care and Learning, nearly 30 percent of Georgia's child care centers are now closed due to the pandemic. One woman in Houston County had to close her center's doors last month.

Lillie Scott and her husband owned Regal Academy Day Care. They tried to make it work, but the pandemic forced them to close for good on September 11. 

"Some of the kids will call my husband, if he came in here, they will call him 'Papa,' they will call me 'Nana,' you know, so it was hard. Letting those kids go because they were like part of my family," Scott said.

Before the pandemic, 45 children were enrolled, but after reopening, she says they never had more than 15.

Scott says they received some government funding, but still couldn't afford to stay open.

"We pretty much had to dig into our own retirement fund and stuff like that to keep us afloat," said Scott.

Meanwhile, some parents are still worried about sending their kids to day care, including Kenzie Lee, whose daughter is 1 year old. She decided to hire a babysitter.

"There's a lot less exposure for her to be with one single person, whereas in the daycare where parents are in and out, there's so many other kids who have siblings who are in school," Lee said.

Holly Cummings took her daughter out of day care when the pandemic hit, but a few weeks ago, she was comfortable enough to send her back.

Cummings said, "I think her daycare is doing a great job of keeping them clean and safe and healthy, so, yeah, I'm happy that we're kind of getting back to a little bit of normalcy."

LaTonya Blasingame is the executive director of both Cherished Children locations in Houston County. She says pandemic has impacted her centers, but she's hanging on.

"The biggest impact for the center is because we lost a lot of kids because of COVID-19, I had to basically make a lot of my staff part time," explained Blasingame.

Scott says closing her day care center was the hardest decision she's had to make, and she hopes no other businesses have to close down. 

Starting November 16, all licensed Georgia child care providers who need assistance can apply to the second round of the STABLE fund from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

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