As the coronavirus pandemic closed schools and some childcare centers, parents who are also medical workers were sent scrambling to find care for their young children.

The spread of the coronavirus upended the childcare industry just as many parents were forced into the market. Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that he is preparing an executive order that will help “fast-track childcare” for doctors, nurses and other medical workers.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, 34% of childcare facilities have temporarily closed. The rest, about 3,345 childcare programs, had to reapply to stay open and agree to health safety guidelines such as checking to make sure people with COVID-19 symptoms don’t enter their buildings, and cleaning and sanitizing all toys daily.

The state is offering to pay for emergency childcare in April and May for essential workers who meet income guidelines. The income limit for a two-person household is $51,720; for a four-person household, the limit is $78,600.

The state set up a hotline to help parents working essential jobs find childcare: 1-888-600-1685.

Bonuses to childcare workers

The state Department of Health and Human Services is also paying bonuses in April and May to full-time childcare employees and family care homes that enroll children of essential workers who have no other safe options; children who are homeless or in unstable or unsafe living arrangements; and children receiving child welfare services through a county social services department, department spokeswoman Kelly Haight Connor said in an email.

Full-time teaching staff will get bonuses of $300 a month, and full-time non-teaching staff will get $200 a month.

Money for the bonuses and childcare payments is coming from the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

As healthcare workers started to search, hospitals stepped in to help direct their employees to childcare centers.

Jessica Simo, an administrator at Duke Children’s Health Center, started sending her 7-year-old daughter, Mae Sochaski, to Camp Hope in Durham, a childcare service the The YMCA of the Triangle started for essential personnel that’s targeted to hospital workers.

Camp Hope charges $25 a day and will operate through May 15. The YMCA opened locations at five branches.

“We are so grateful to those who are serving us and our entire community during these unprecedented times. That’s why we’re stepping up to support those working on our behalf,” Doug McMillan, YMCA of the Triangle CEO, said in a statement.

Simo first sent Mae to live out of state with her parents, but decided to bring her home. She found Camp Hope with the help of Duke’s human resources department. Mae attends Camp Hope during summer and school breaks and knows some of the counselors.

“Given the fact that it’s not an option for my daughter to be home all the time, this is one I can feel good about,” Simo said.

The News & Observer wants to share your stories about COVID-19 and the North Carolina health care system. Are you or a family member a doctor, nurse or patient? Share your story or contact us here.

Affordable childcare is hard to find

Hospitals began helping staff look for childcare and contacted centers to find open slots.

WakeMed put together a list of professional providers and NC State students offering childcare, said spokeswoman Debra Z. Laughery.

Rhonda Brandon, chief human resources officer for Duke University Health System, said employees are being given paid time off to find emergency childcare. “They can return to work with the piece of mind that their families are being taken care of,” she said.

UNC Healthcare created a task force that started out meeting daily. The group set up a website, surveyed employees, and started talking to childcare providers about available spaces.

“Health care workers on the front lines want to know that their children will be taken care of,” said Hannah Prentice-Dunn, a task force co-chairwoman. “There are a lot of people working to make that happen.”

Responses to the task force childcare survey found about 80% were looking for in-home childcare. The task force worked with infectious disease experts at the Gillings School of Public Health to develop COVID-19 safety suggestions for making in-home childcare as safe as possible for the children and the people providing care, Prentice-Dunn said.

This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 3:02 PM.