Jefferson County officials have clarified who may use child-care facilities during a stay-at-home order that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. today (March 24).
The order is intended to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronaviurs.
At a County Council meeting Monday evening (March 23), Counselor Wes Yates said a restriction that was part of the initial order that erroneously limited who could use day care services has been taken out.
The Jefferson County Health Department posted on its Facebook and Twitter pages Monday night that the wording for a section dealing with child-care facilities does not limit who may use the service.
The Health Department wrote: “Regarding the Stay-at-Home Order: It is now ordered that Item (U) should read: Child-care facilities. We do not intend to restrict child-care facilities at this time, nor limit them to the designations that were previously listed.”
“We do apologize for the confusion, but this is an ever-changing, fluid situation based on information that changes hourly,” the Health Department’s post said.
In the original order, which was issued by County Executive Dennis Gannon and Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar on Monday afternoon, the wording appeared to limit child-care facilities to children whose parents worked in a few specific professions, but that was later corrected.
