An overnight summer camp in rural southwestern Missouri saw 82 campers, counselors and staff infected with Covid-19. Missouri is one of several states to report outbreaks at summer camps. The Kanakuk camp near Branson ended up sending its teenage campers home. On Friday, the local health department announced 49 positive cases of the COVID-19 virus at the camp. By Monday, the number had jumped to 82.
A parent interviewed about the outbreak said he felt that the camp had done everything they could to keep his children safe. Kanakuk plans to reopen later this summer once test results from all staffers are returned and show it’s safe to do so, said Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health.
Kanakuk employs numerous layers of systems and protocols to ensure that the facilities, staff, and campers stay safe, clean, and healthy. However, the most important thing they do as an organization is spend countless hours praying in advance for every camper and staff who walks through the gates. They pray for a healthy and safe environment.
Some states, like Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, closed summer camps this year, and many camps elsewhere have voluntarily canceled programs. But other camps are plowing ahead, hoping that precautions like social distancing, masks and requiring children to quarantine before coming to camp will quell the risk.
In Texas, 76 cases of campers and staff who attended Pine Cove’s Christian camps have tested positive, and several weeks of camp were canceled after clusters of cases were discovered. The spread came despite state requirements that include enforcing social distancing and banning outside visitors. As of last week, campers and staff must wear masks when social distancing isn’t possible.
In Lake Burton, Georgia YMCA Camps, at least 85 kids and counselors tested positive for COVID-19, Georgia Department of Public Health officials told McClatchy News. Campers were all between 7-14 years old and staff between 16-22, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The YMCA says this situation happened despite careful planning and adherence to safety guidelines laid out by leading health experts and mandated by the state, 11Alive reported.
In Arkansas, Mount Ida’s Camp Ozark closed after “several” people were infected, though it didn’t say how many, Fox said. It’s a calculated risk for camps, to open or not open, but most are choosing to stay closed for safety, or are being forced to stay closed by state or local government mandate, according to CNBC. Nearly two-thirds of summer camps haven’t opened this year.
A Fort Myers, Florida children’s theater camp shut down this week after two students tested positive for COVID-19. “The students that tested positive didn’t have any symptoms,” Jeremy Kuntze, the executive producer for the nonprofit Creative Theater Workshop said. The students had rehearsed and performed in the summer camp production of the musical “Hairspray Jr.,” which ran June 15 through July 3, 2020. “We had taken safety precautions,” Kuntze said. “We required temperatures to be checked every day before students arrived. Sanitizing. All staff and volunteers wore masks. Visitors wore masks.” Students, however, weren’t required to wear masks, Kuntze said. “They were encouraged.” When performing on stage no one wore masks.
Screening for fevers with temperature checks is not a panacea. “The absence of an elevated body temperature is not a seal of approval,” said Dr. Fred Jacobs, a pulmonologist and former commissioner of the New Jersey Health Department, told ABC News. “The answer is not temperature. The answer is testing.” Children in particular can be asymptomatic and spread the virus with no sign of a temperature.
All of this foreshadows the insanity of opening schools in Florida 5 days a week despite the surge in COVID-19 cases. Children are not immune to the virus and they can certainly spread the virus to friends and family.
Florida just shattered the number of cases reported in a single day with, 15,299 new cases on Sunday July 12, 2020. This is the highest daily total of any state in the United States. 45 people died in the state on Sunday July 12, 2020.