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Changes in Infection Prevention Measures in Japanese Child Care Facilities
Following the COVID-19 Outbreak

S. Yokota 1

Nursing, Asahi University, Japan
1

Background: Childcare facilities for infants and toddlers provide environments where children aged
0 to 6 years old are in prolonged contact, facilitating the rapid spread of infectious diseases. The
COVID-19 outbreak in spring 2020 led to a global health crisis, prompting Japan to declare a state
of emergency in April. Consequently, childcare facilities needed to enhance their infection control
measures.

Objective: This survey reports on the changes in infection control measures in response to infectious
disease outbreaks.

Methods: We surveyed childcare workers about infection control practices in 2019 and 2023. One
hundred twenty workers responded in 2019, and 87 responded in 2023. We conducted quantitative
analysis of the survey data. Ethical consideration: the research ethics review committees of Aichi
Prefectural University (Certification number 6-30) and Osaka Seikei University (Certification number
2023-14) approved this study.

Results: Over 90% of daycare centers had air conditioning units before the outbreak. The installation
of humidifiers increased from 29.2% in 2019 to 62.1% in 2023, and air purifiers increased from 51.7% in
2019 to 94.3% in 2023. The cleaning methods also changed. with 50% of centers using water or hot
water for cleaning in 2019, compared to 59.8% using sodium hypochlorite formulations in 2023.

Conclusion: The Covid-19 outbreak led to increased measures against aerosol transmission in
childcare facilities which also reduce the incidence of influenza infections. This indicates that
Poster Presentation Abstracts
measures to prevent droplet and contact infections have been strengthened.

Keywords: infection prevention, childcare facilities, COVID-19

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Correspondence: Satoko Yokota, Nursing, Asahi University, Japan
E-mail: syokota@alice.asahi-u.ac.jp

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