AUSTIN, Texas — More than 1,200 kids and almost 2,400 staff in Texas child care centers have tested positive for COVID-19, according to new numbers from the Department of State Health Services.
After multiple requests from the KVUE Defenders, DSHS started publishing the names of child care centers with cases of the virus about two weeks ago.
With that data, a KVUE analysis shows how quickly the virus is spreading in those facilities, and which centers in our area have been hit hardest by the virus.
Looking back to May 21, DSHS reported 67 cases of COVID-19 for both children and staff in Texas child care facilities. About a month later, the number of cases jumped to 210. Then, in early July, cases reached almost 1,800, and 2,800 just a few weeks later. And as of new numbers from Thursday, there have been 3,600 cases of the virus in those facilities.
KVUE also looked at the five facilities in the greater Austin area with the most COVID-19 cases so far. All of them are in Travis County.
Circle C Child Development Center has had 12 cases.
“This data dated back to June when we first reopened,” Circle C Executive Director Michelle Moran said in a statement. “As a non-profit preschool, we have not reported or had any new cases since June. Please refer to all of our policies and procedures that are published on our website at https://thechilddevelopmentcenter.org/covid-19/. We are extremely grateful to our children, families and staff for their ongoing support and commitment to following our stringent protocols and keeping everyone safe.”
YPW Spanish Immersion School has reported eight cases to the state. And there have been five cases at both The Goddard School in Round Rock and Wesley School. Primrose School of Shady Hollow has also reported four cases to DSHS.
Kristin Rhoades, the franchise owner of the Primrose School of Shady Hollow, released the following statement in response:
"At Primrose School of Shady Hollow, our highest priority is to ensure the health, safety and security of our staff and every child entrusted to our care. Since March, we have reported four confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses of individuals at our school. These were isolated cases, and none of the individuals were infected at our school. To reduce the transmission of illness in our school, we have continued our rigorous health and safety measures that include cleaning and sanitizing the school daily, in addition to implementing the protocols recommended by the CDC and Austin/Travis County Health Department. You can reference our health and safety practices in place here: https://www.primroseschools.com/schools/shady-hollow/healthsafety."
To see the full list of child care centers with COVID-19, which is published by DSHS, click here.
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