ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- State leaders are working on a plan that would provide financial relief to parents who are still paying tuition or other costs for child care services that have been shuttered for all but essential workers' children amid the coronavirus pandemic.

At a news conference Friday afternoon, state schools Superintendent Karen Salmon said they hope to have a plan "very soon" that will allow families to still reserve their kids' places at child care facilities when they reopen.

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Salmon said she understood that asking people to pay for child care they aren't receiving, especially when many families are experiencing other coronavirus-related financial hardships, "is not reasonable or tenable."

"We are working on a solution to provide financial relief to families during this state of emergency and will also allow them to maintain their status in the childcare facility to which they send their children when we return to normal operations," Salmon said.

All child care facilities across Maryland except those serving children of essential workers were ordered to shut their doors by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 27.

For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.