UNION COUNTY — Debra Hansen, the owner of a Cove day care center, has been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis.

The number of children Hansen cares for has fallen from 10 to four or five since Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order to stay home took effect in mid-March. Hansen is in no way bemoaning her circumstances, though.

“I feel lucky,” Hansen said, because she has been able to keep her child care center, Lil Fanny, open. She would be in a very difficult position financially if she had to close her business.

“I am the sole provider for my household,” she said.

Hansen is in select company. Her center is one of only about 30 in Union County that have been granted emergency status, a standing that allows them to remain open during the pandemic.

The total represents less than half the number of centers Union County had before the stay-home directive took effect in March, according to Tobie Sass, the child care development director for Child Care Resource and Referral of Umatilla-Morrow County Head Start.

A big reason for the decline is that only day care centers granted emergency status can continue operating under the executive order. Those with emergency status can serve only children whose parents have jobs the state has deemed essential.

The state directive further restricts emergency day care providers by not allowing them to take in any children they were not serving before the order took effect, including children of parents with jobs deemed essential, Hansen said.

Even without these limits, Hansen said the number of children attending her day care center would be down. This is because many parents are working at home due to COVID-19, which means they have no need for day care.

A plus for day care providers is they are exempt from some social distancing rules such as the 6-foot guideline, Hansen said. Rules day care centers must adhere to include limiting the number of children at a center to no more than 10.

The children Hansen is caring for range in age from 2 to 10, and she is trying her best to keep them at ease in the face of the health crisis. Hansen said the younger children seem to be fussy and anxious.

“They know something is different but they don’t know what it is,” said Hansen, who tries to give these children extra attention and love to comfort them.

Michelle Richardson, the owner of Michelle’s Child Care in Cove, is among the day care providers that closed following Brown’s order. The parents of almost all the six to seven children Richardson provides care for have essential jobs, which means she could have remained open. She closed, though, because all her parents were asked by their employers to work from home.

Richardson said she greatly misses the children she cared for, especially her youngest, a pair of 2-year-olds.

She said she wishes she could see them because they are at an age when they are quickly developing.

“I am missing their changes,” she said.

Richardson said the closure has posed a financial hardship, one compounded by delays in getting unemployment payments from the state, a source of major frustration. Another concern is she does not know what to expect when she does reopen since her children will have become accustomed to staying at home with their parents.

“They will have to re-acclimate,” she said. “They will have a different routine.”

While the COVID-19 crisis has dramatically reduced the number of day care centers in Union County, it also has given rise to a new one at La Grande’s Central Elementary School. The day care center is open every weekday to children age 5 and older whose parents are first responders and health care providers.

These children receive day care from Central’s non-teaching staff, plus lunches and snacks, all at no cost. The La Grande School District is being reimbursed for the meals by the federal government, and the Central staff is continuing to be paid during the shutdown under the terms of Brown’s executive order. The day care services are being provided by staff who have had their duties reassigned, said the school district’s business manager, Chris Panike.

At Central, children spend their days in a classroom and in an enclosed playground. Members of Central’s staff are devoting a significant portion of their time helping children with distance learning classroom projects at their schools. About 12 children attend the day care sessions, and they are from all elementary schools throughout Union County. The service will be offered through June 2.