COVID-19 Operating Policies

Hutch Kids works in concert with King County Public Health, Fred Hutch infection prevention experts and our own Nurse Consultant to determine the very best standards to both keep our community safe and our center open to support children and families.

Hutch Kids Early Learning Center requires all children aged 6 months and older to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, unless a medical exemption is provided

• All age-eligible and enrolled children are required to be vaccinated.
• When children turn 6 months old, they will have three months to complete their vaccinations
• Children are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their final dose of their chosen vaccine
• Parents are responsible for vaccinating their children and providing a copy of their child’s vaccination records to Hutch Kids administration
• Once children are fully vaccinated, they are no longer required to quarantine or test after a close contact community exposure.  

Public Health Vaccine Finder

Child Positive Cases
We require all child-positive cases to quarantine for 5 days and to test on day 6. On day 6, asymptomatic children can test to return to care with a documented negative antigen test result. If a child tests positive on day 6, they are excluded from care through day 10. For children who have the ability to mask, they will be required to mask on days 6-10 . Children who do not have the ability to mask due to age or ability will be excluded from care through day 10. 

Close Contact Community Exposures
For Unvaccinated Children:  Quarantine for 5 days at home. A PCR test on day 5 is strongly encouraged; if it is unavailable, antigen tests on day 5 and on day 6 will be accepted. On day 6, asymptomatic children can test to return to care with documented and reported negative test results.

For Fully Vaccinated Children: No need to quarantine or report test results if they remain asymptomatic.

Ongoing Household Exposures: Children who have ongoing household exposures may attend under the following conditions:

1. They are symptom free
2. A negative antigen test is reported to admin@hutchkids.org daily before attendance.
3. They are over age two and have the ability to consistently and correctly mask. Please contact the front desk at arrival and pick-up times to avoid having a person with a positive case enter the building.

Testing When Symptomatic
We are discontinuing the requirement for Covid- 19 testing for fully vaccinated symptomatic or exposed individuals (children and staff). If a child is not yet fully vaccinated) continue testing as currently required – 2 antigen tests, 24 hours apart or one PCR test. PCR tests only for children under 2 years of age. We highly encourage families and staff to continue to test when symptomatic or when they have a known exposure, but do not require reporting testing results if the child is fully vaccinated.

Keep Your Vaccinated Child Home if They Have a . . .

• An illness or condition that prevents the child from participating in normal activities or requires more care and attention than the early learning provider can provide.
• Diagnosed contagious illness.
• Fever (a temperature of 101degrees Fahrenheit or higher) and symptoms of illness such as sore throat, cough, earache, headache, vomiting, diarrhea. Considered resolved when fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications and improved symptoms.
• Open sores or wounds discharging bodily fluids that cannot be adequately covered with a waterproof dressing or mouth sores with drooling
• Diarrhea—two or more times in the previous 24 hours
• Vomiting—two or more times in the previous 24 hours
• A rash not associated with heat, diapering, or an allergic reaction
• Other signs of new illness unrelated to a known condition (such as seasonal allergies)
• Lice, ringworm, or scabies until after receiving the first treatment

Keep Your Unvaccinated Child Home and Covid-19 Test if
They Have Any of the Above Symptoms and/or the following:

A fever of 100.4 or higher
Cough, Chills, Muscle Pain, Headache, Runny Nose, Congestion, and/or one instance of vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours.

Hutch Kids Masking Requirements  

Masking will no longer be required with the following exceptions: 

• Community transmission rates are rated high in King County on this dashboard
• Ten percent or more of the combined HK staff and students have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past two weeks, until we fall under that number
• When vaccinated individuals have an ongoing household exposure to a positive household member (when age-eligible to mask)

Below are resources for families.