Gabriella Cisneros looks after 14 children at her home day care outside San Diego and is down to her last bottle of Clorox wipes. A private childcare operator, she has a few rolls of paper towels and a little hand sanitizer left, but she doesn’t know how long those will last so that she can keep the kids, and her livelihood, safe.
It’s the latest concern for these crucial workers who make sure grocery store employees, EMTs, nurses, doctors, police officers and others on the front line can work and know their children are safe.
But Cisneros, 38, said dwindling resources and a lack of health insurance is putting independent day care workers at risk — all while they have had to delay organizing a union through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees because of disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.
