Colorado day cares stay open amid coronavirus outbreak

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Colorado State Health Department is asking day cares to stay open, despite the fact most public schools have closed due to coronavirus concerns.

State officials' guidance says that day cares are smaller than school districts and are less likely to have a major COVID-19 outbreak.

KRDO spoke with owner Lisa Newman of Little Sprouts Learning Center in Colorado Springs, which remains open.

Newman said on Monday that the number of kids attending her day care has decreased by about 35 percent since last week.

At this time, about 30 people work at Little Sprouts Learning Center. The owner of the company said she's concerned about what the pandemic means for the future of her company.

"It is a little scary not knowing how it is going to impact the business," Newman said. "We've gotten calls from the bank already saying that they can defer our payments for a little while if that need arises."

Little Sprouts Learning Center said it is following all of the health department cleaning requirements. The owner said staff is constantly wiping down surfaces in the building.

If there is a COVID-19 case at a Colorado day care, it's required to close and sanitize for 72 hours per state protocol.

If there are multiple COVID-19 cases at a day care, it must shut down for 14 days.