Joe Bofferding, who owns a private crèche, said they were still waiting for official information, while fielding constant questions from concerned parents. With just a week and a half until the structures are due to reopen, time is in short supply.
It is thought that each room will be allowed to host just five children, with individual groups prevented from mixing. This means the overall capacity for each crèche will be reduced. In Bofferding's crèche, their capacity will drop from 42 children to just 20.
Bofferding explained they also had staff with the right to take leave for family reasons, which could further complicate matters and result in staff shortages. If this were to be the case, it would reduce the crèche's capacity even further, as they would only be able to reopen 3 of their 4 rooms.
Further to this, it is not certain how many parents are reliant on crèches to help them return to work at the end of the month. Bofferding estimated around a third of their usual clients would not necessarily need childcare, but there are still concerns over how to accommodate the rest when their capacities have been reduced.
What criteria will be applied to decide which children get the spaces, and what sanitary measures will be applied? How will crèches survive financially when they can accommodate fewer than 50% of their normal numbers? These are just some of the questions that remain unanswered at present.
Video report in Luxembourgish
