Governor's Executive Order Has Limited Impact on Schools and Childcare Centers

Georgia's governor issued an executive order last week lifting most of the restrictions on Georgia businesses. The order lifted most restrictions on schools and childcare centers, keeping only a few rules for childcare such as screening children and keeping all bedding for each child separated from other bedding.  The executive order does not actually affect most schools or childcare centers, however, because rules from the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, and the Department of Early Care and Learning remain in effect.

The DPH website contains the current rules for schools and childcare centers.  The relevant departments have not yet changed any rules to reflect the governor's new executive order.  News reports, for example, say that childcare centers no longer need to exclude visitors such as parents.  The current rules for childcare centers, however, still say that "Child Care facilities are required to [p]rohibit unnecessary visitors."

We can expect and hope that the state's governing agencies will adapt their rules to reflect the governor's executive order.  Until then, the old rules still apply