Premier Dwight Ball is defending the provincial government’s decision to reopen daycares for children of essential government employees.

Daycare operators are upset because a government subsidy provided to pay employees and reimburse families for services that cannot be provided is contingent on agreeing to reopen to essential workers.

They say required hygiene practices and social distancing of children are simply too hard to manage.

Premier Dwight Ball says many essential workers have no other option and need these services in order to continue working.

Essential workers incl: ➡️Health Care Workers, Paramedics, Firefighters, Police, Correction Workers, Early Childhood Educators and other Public Servants required to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fill out this application for child care services https://t.co/q6FwM21YuV pic.twitter.com/0R8rsAOieS

— Education and Early Childhood Development (@EDU_GovNL) March 25, 2020

He says the government is simply asking that child care operators help keep essential services running.

Ball says the first child care option should always be family and friends, but if that support is not there, early childhood educators need to step in.

Ball says they will be paying operators as if the facilities were at full capacity. He says ideally these daycares would be at 50 per cent capacity or less.

The Premier says other provinces have similar systems and that it can work.

He hopes that child care workers can come together to work out the details to give essential workers the ability to continue providing services.