The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating economic and human impact on California child care centers, forcing hundreds of them to close while others remain open at the risk of illness to both children and staff, according to a new report from the University of California, Berkeley.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Playing, learning, and socializing. Three things children can't easily get from a computer screen. Distance learning was supposed to be a temporary solution for education when coronavirus concerns first prompted school closures in the spring.

Khulood Jamil reads to children at her family child care center in Concord. For the first time ever, family child care providers in California who care for children receiving subsidized care will have a union to represent them and negotiate with the state for higher pay and training.

Some California school districts that have closed classrooms in favor of online instruction for the new academic year are putting those buildings to another use: child care.

Proyecto Pastoral has prioritized caring for children from essential worker families and those who have special needs or are in foster care. (Courtesy Proyecto Pastoral) Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter.

The economic toll of the collapse of the child system will be felt for 20-30 years, says Betsey Stevenson. Zack Stanton is digital editor of Politico Magazine.

As Covid-19 runs rampant across California, sickening hundreds of thousands of people, Rosa Carreño’s day care in San Jose has remained open through it all.

Referring to announcements by Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified that they will reopen schools remotely, Gov.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted an unprecedented crisis in California child care.