Tasmania's 290 child care centres are struggling as parents who have lost their jobs withdraw their children.
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Early Childhood Australia Tasmanian president Ros Cornish said there had been a massive withdrawal of children from centres in the past two weeks.
Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania
In some childcare centres numbers were down 50 per cent.
But Ms Cornish said closing childcare centres would be a last resort unless they had close under new rules to deal with COVID-19.
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"We're struggling - we're almost at breaking point," Ms Cornish said.
"We have no income if people withdraw.
"It has absolutely flat-lined in the past two weeks.
"People everywhere are losing their jobs and can't afford childcare anymore.
"Other parents are temporarily removing their children as a precautionary measure because they are nervous and want to keep their children home '
Ms Cornish, who is also the chief executive of Lady Gowrie Tasmania, says she has 500 staff who she is trying to keep employed.
"We have no work for our casual staff and we have redeployed staff to other areas," she said.
"Some centres are at 50 per cent capacity.
"I worry about the small centres in areas such as George Town, Swansea and Oatlands where we underwrite their losses.
"If we don't make a surplus we can't underwrite them.
"That would be really sad for children in those areas who would no longer have access to early learning which is crucial for their future."
Parents who totally withdraw their children will lose their childcare places.
However, under new commonwealth guidelines those who want a temporary absence can have up to 60 days and still get a subsidy if they continue to pay for care.
Many centres which provide school holiday programs for children aged up to 13 were now working out how to deal with student free days ahead of the Easter break and start of two week holidays.
Ms Cornish said she had been inundated with calls from parents and carers wanting to make arrangements for their children in holidays.
"The ones who still have jobs are worried ," she said.
"The ones who want long day care are feeling the pressure.
"There are stimulus packages available and we need to actively unpack the details.
Ms Cornish is worried about the future for the sector and its workers.
"We have to work out what to do in the longer term, this is not going to be over in five minutes," she said.
"I'm nervous about the recovery stage because we need services for families and some small ones might not have the economy of scale to re-open.
"I'm also worried about the loss of our workforce.
"We had a skill shortage before and many older workers may make choices for their own health and safety and not come back."
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