Parents of pre-school aged children are expressing frustration with public health measures that mean some small children have been in isolation or repeated periods of isolation and unable to attend child care since Christmas.

Angela Dunphy has two young sons, ages 2 and 3 who are currently isolating at home because of a potential COVID exposure, and she sees the impact it’s having on them.

She says the children went into a ten day isolation period because of an exposure to COVID on Jan 20, and were only back for a few days, when there was another new exposure, and they’re back in isolation. “Out of 24 days, my children will have been in isolation for 20… and we’re finding this quite frustrating.”

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald acknowledges the impact and frustration and says Public Health officials are working on the situation to find that “delicate balance.”

She says day cares are different from schools, because children under the age of 5 are not vaccinated, and generally speaking are not wearing masks through the day. “But we are looking at that and trying to see how we can improve that situation going forward.”