N.J. to help cover child care costs for essential workers battling coronavirus outbreak – NJ.com

New Jersey is offering state subsidies to help health care workers, emergency responders, and other essential workers pay for child care amid the coronavirus pandemic, under a new program officials announced Thursday.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order to create the Emergency Child Care Assistance Program.

It offers $336 to $450 a week through April to those workers — regardless of income — so they can attend to fighting coronavirus.

Last month, Murphy ordered all child care centers in the state to close except for those solely serving children of emergency and essential workers. After he closed all schools in the state to help reduce the spread of the virus, the governor said there needs to be a place for those workers to have their children watched as they battle the virus on the frontlines.

There are nearly 600 childcare centers in the state remaining open for essential employees, state Department of Children and Families Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer said at the state’s daily coronavirus press briefing.

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Families who meet the definition of “essential” workers under the executive order can register at childcarenj.gov.

According to the governor’s order, essential employees also include: law enforcement, state workers who are unable to work from home, people who work for places “that provide essential social services, including, but not limited to, group home and shelter staff,” and certain critical care workers.

The full-time weekly subsidy is $336 for school-age kids, $415 for preschoolers and toddlers, and $450 for infants, according to the governor’s office.

New Jersey now has at least 25,590 known cases of COVID-19, including at least 182 known deaths, officials said Thursday. That’s the second-most of any U.S. state, after New York.

Murphy said Wednesday night New Jerseyans should expect the fallout from the virus will drag “deep into May.”

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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