States scramble to arrange child care for essential workers

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A nurse and a single mother, Becca Rosselli had a choice to make when her daughter's school and care programs closed for the coronavirus outbreak. She could take a leave of absence from the hospital, or leave her 6-year-old with her mother, who has a condition that could make her vulnerable to the disease.

Rosselli, 28, found a child care program for essential workers but it wasn't open late enough to fit her schedule with 12-hour shifts. So for now, her daughter is staying with the grandmother.

“A lot of people are very scared to help them with babysitting because of the virus, everyone's very careful about not wanting to get infected,” said Rosselli, who lives in Lockport, New York. “Because we're on the front lines, we're going to be the ones directly exposed and possibly taking care of these cases and dealing with it up front.”

With schools and many day care centers closed, states, local governments and philanthropists are scrambling to free up parents who are medical workers, emergency responders and others needed on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

The New York City schools chief has put out a call for staff to volunteer at emergency child care centers. A hedge fund billionaire in Connecticut has pledged $3 million toward care for the children of hospital workers. And in Minnesota, a group of volunteer nursing students has set up a rotation to watch the children of health care workers.

At least 3.5 million children of health care workers in the nation’s most populated areas could eventually need emergency child care as the crisis intensifies, according to an analysis of U.S. Census survey data by researchers at Colorado State University and Yale University.

“When doctors and ICU nurses and other important workers don't have child care, people may...