Using Simulation to Study The Impact of Covid-19 Policies on The Availability of Childcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of working parents, who are struggling to balance their responsibilities at work and at home, as well as childcare providers who are working hard to keep their doors open. In this paper, we examine the effect of childcare policies on the availability of childcare. Specifically, we investigate how classroom size, the likelihood of COVID-19 infection, and the number of days a classroom may need to close affect the amount of time parents will need to stay at home with their children. Our results show that even low probabilities of infection combined with stringent policies can have a large impact on the duration of a child’s exclusion from childcare services.