As summer camps across the country debated whether and how to operate during the coronavirus pandemic this spring, Kanakuk Kamps, a prominent network of Christian sports camps in Missouri, announced that its five night camps would open to more than 20,000 children from May 30.
“Our full-time summer staff of 1,600 qualified people, including 100 registered nurses and 60 volunteer doctors, are hired and trained,” Joe White, who runs the camp with his wife Debbie-Jo, told families. “We are planning to be open all summer.”
On its website, the camp assured parents, “We are focused on taking all reasonable steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on our Kamps.”
But now, even the cautious hopes that COVID-19 can be kept outside the gates of Kanakuk Kamps are already shattered. On July 1, parents were notified by email that one of the camps, known as K-2, was closing. The Stone County Health Department ‘updated the community on Facebook: 41 campers, counselors, and staff tested positive for COVID-19; they had come to camp from 10 states and multiple counties in Missouri. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services then updated the count to 49, according to Springfield News-Leader.
Parents received an email from Rebecca Duncan, Kanakuk’s director of health services, informing them that their child may have been exposed: “When your Kamper returns home, we recommend that you consider a 14-day quarantine for your child and monitor the symptoms of COVID-19. “
The plan to open or close night camps this summer was heartbreaking for both families and camps. Parents are increasingly desperate: A recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that 60 percent of parents “have no idea” how to keep kids interested this summer. The camps depend on the income of two short months to continue year after year. However, as stressful as learning about virtual cancellations or substitutes was, the on-site camps offer new concerns, namely keeping children safe.
Kanakuk’s COVID-19 experience is not isolated. Two YMCA camps in Georgia opened and then closed after a counselor tested positive for the coronavirus. Eagle Lake Camp in Colorado reported a coronavirus outbreak among staff members in preparation for the site for the opening season. The camp will not welcome campers now, as there are at least 12 confirmed cases and 12 more “probable cases”, according to an NBC affiliate.
In Pennsylvania, Camp Seneca Lake announced that it will delay opening day this week and quarantine a group of staff members after a person tested positive during the counselor’s orientation. The camp posted on Instagram that anyone “who steps on our campus will be screened for Covid-19” immediately.
Although dozens of camps across the country have decided to close, others are still planning to open, including the Camp Modin Jewish summer camp in Maine, whose truncated summer season begins July 9. The camp director, Howard Salzberg, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they had received hundreds of applications.
Kingsley Pines Camp also in Maine announced that it would open with a single session this summer and will require all incoming campers to be screened within seven days prior to arrival. She also encouraged families to isolate themselves and avoid social gatherings in the weeks leading up to the camp, and informed them that transportation to the camp would not be provided.
But the directors also warned potential attendees: “Please understand that even with the steps we are taking, we cannot guarantee that COVID-19 will not enter the camp, or that your child will not receive it. We will require all parents to sign a waiver before camp acknowledging this risk. Each family must carefully weigh the risks and benefits of the camp and decide what is best for their children. We strongly discourage any child with a secondary health condition from attending camp. “
Most of the camps that promised to open safely suggested an equally ambitious network of honor for campers and counselors regarding isolation prior to the start of camp. A video on the Kanakuk website explained that all campers and staff would be required to be quarantined for 14 days before the start of their camping period this year. Parents were asked to limit “their children’s exposure to non-family members, avoid large crowds and gatherings, and avoid unnecessary travel before camp.” A health assessment card was mailed to campers two weeks before camp, and parents were asked to record the child’s temperature for seven days prior to arrival.
Some camps explored the idea of making a bubble or capsule system, where campers join counselors in small groups and remain insular within the camps.
“I think with the increasing number of cases in so many states now, I am more concerned than ever about the feasibility of summer camp,” said Dr. Jessica Justman, an epidemiologist and associate professor of medicine at Irving Medical Center at the University of Columbia. , she told NBC News.
“These things always come down to individual judgments and decisions that parents have to make,” he added.
With different meeting rules from state to state and some sleep camps still operating, the American Camp Association provided a field guide, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered suggestions for safer operations in youth camps this summer. While children have largely, but not entirely, escaped the worst known effects of the coronavirus so far, there is conflicting evidence about the likelihood that children will transmit the virus to adults.
Kanakuk did not respond to multiple requests for comment from NBC News. Your existing guide outlined an “isolate, confirm, respond, and eliminate” protocol for campers or personnel suspected of having COVID-19. The website lists the procedures in place to provide a degree of social detachment, best sanitation practices, implementation of daily temperature controls, and facial coverage for campers.
“One of the most pressing things is that we need to have a conversation if we’re going to do this about what it would look like if cases did occur, because I don’t think it’s 100 percent safe, or I’ll say 100 percent infection-free,” said Dr. David Cennimo, infectious disease expert at Rutgers New Jersey School of Medicine.
“In some ways, especially the day camp setting is kind of a dry race for the school,” Cennimo said. “And if we can’t run day camps, I don’t know how we open schools.”
Fear of the situation Kanakuk now faces led the family-owned and operated Friendship Camp in Palmyra, Virginia, to completely shut down its overnight summer camp season for the first time in more than 50 years.
“Given the current circumstances, we cannot guarantee that we can keep campers safe,” said Sarah Ackenbom, camp director.
Ackenbom emphasized that health and safety are Friendship’s top priorities, even when it comes to financial strains. All of Ackenbom’s income comes from the summer.
“All the summer camps are seeing if you decide to cancel the summer camp, this could be closing your business forever,” he said. To earn some income, Camp Friendship has started renting some of its cabins as family camps.
Much of the conversation about opening or closing camps has focused on children going to high-end camps that cost several thousand dollars per session. But the children at highest risk for lack of summer programming are those at the lowest income levels.
Kids Across America, a sister camp in Kanakuk that targets children from low-income families, announced in May that its summer programming would be virtual. Bruce Morgan, CEO of Kids Across America, said the decision was financial. Groups and families that would normally send their children to camp are using the funds for food and other vital necessities during the pandemic.
Falls Creek Youth Camp in Oklahoma and Inspire Sports Camps in New Jersey, both designed for children whose families have lower incomes, also went online.
Although there are free online summer programming options, even having access to a device through which one can participate in virtual programming is not a fact for families with limited means.
However, for some families, camp is summer, and that means trusting the camp to care for their children.
“I feel like kids need to exercise and feel like they need social interaction, that they need to be connected to nature,” said Abby Stewart, a Kanakuk student from Jacksonville, Florida, before her children left for camp.
“Ultimately, I believe that we will now live, for the next few years, in a world where there will be continuous alerts for new cases, follow-up of contacts and periodic, whether it be pauses, opening or re-quarantine,” Cennimo said the expert in Rutgers infectious diseases. “And I think that will be the future for all of us, including our children.”
That is what will happen at Caren Sharpe Herbst’s home in Allen, Texas. Herbst sent his youngest daughter to Kanakuk K-2 camp, even after learning that two counselors had tested positive.
“I think they are taking the best possible steps to keep our children safe at camp, and I wouldn’t send my baby if I didn’t feel like they were going to be safe,” Herbst told NBC News before she did. Daughter’s arrival at camp.
But just a week later, Herbst was told to come find his daughter. The camp was ending the session due to the COVID cluster.
“We are going to quarantine and go test him,” Herbst said by phone as he drove from Texas to Missouri to pick up his daughter.
“I do not regret my decision to send my daughter,” he added. “I think Kanakuk did a job as good as he probably could have done. … This was the only thing I expected this summer. “
