BBQ

My son's troop is not in any of those counties, and they are heading to a Circle Ten summer camp, so even if you interpret "local" to mean a council, they are not trying to accomplish that. I think the CDC left "local" vague so that it could appropriately be defined for every situation. That unfortunately assumed that a person working towards the same goals was doing the interpretation. In some areas, local = city is too large. Consider the area and population of Houston. In other places, you could put several counties together and you wouldn't reach the population in one neighborhood of Houston. If Scout camps were wanting to proceed forward in a safe(r) manner, they should designate a week for each local area. Using the map above as an example, week 1 would be the brown area, week 2 would be the purple, week 3 red, etc. Troops can't pick the week; you either go on the "local" week or don't go. Out of council troops are not allowed. Even then, I would restructure camp to be completely patrol based. A patrol travels together, or has the merit badge come to them, through all merit badges and cooks and eats together. Everyone in the patrol takes all of the same activities. And the patrols never intermingle. Yes, this is change. It is different. It is a disruption. It is harder. It is not the way we've always done it. These are new times. We should be teaching Scouts how to react and adapt rather than pretending the problem doesn't exist. And even then, it is okay to say the greatest service we can provide to the community is to stay home.

I've listened to the presentations from Circle Ten on Scout summer camps. I agree with your assessment; I wasn't impressed either. The leadership seems to belong to the group that doesn't appreciate the severity of COVID-19 and the ease in spreading it. They are insistent on moving forward, but they don't have a plan, and are not following the CDC draft guidelines. They told us that masks were optional since the camp was in a county that didn't require it. They fail to understand that the mask isn't to protect against the land but from all of the people coming from around Texas, not even just the local area/council. A masks isn't just to protect yourself, but it is to protect others around you. When you don't wear a mask, I am at greater risk, and visa-versa.

This difference between family camping and hiking and patrol camping is that a family comes from the same family and household. A family will have already infected each other at home. With a group, there is a potential for one person to spread it to others and then they all return and spread it to more people. While Scouting might be about the outdoors, there are still situations that lead to close contact which leads to transmission of the virus, such as travelling to and from the campsite in the same car, cooking with the same utensils, using a single camp wide restroom, sharing a tent, and sitting close to each other for activities. Care still must be taken. Many states are asking visitors to state parks to always wear a mask. When the situation eases, patrol level camping will be viable much earlier than gathering a large troop, and certainly earlier than summer camps that continual mix people in close contact from multiple areas. If any summer camps try to proceed, I would hope that they switch to a patrol based experience in which the patrol takes the same merit badges, eats together at their own campsite, and generally avoids interacting with other groups.

Here is a list of questions that I think that camps should be able to provide to parents. Some may imply conditions in my state and not appropriate to all. What parties and governing authorities influencing summer camp decisions, whether that is to proceed at all, and what alterations to procedures will be made? What guidelines are around no/go parameters for camps in regards to infection control and the virus? The President and Governor has outlined a multi-phase program for re-opening the state and businesses. Under what phases do you feel it is viable to open camp? What medical staff is at camp? Are COVID-19 testing kits available at camp? Will camp participants temperature be taken as they arrive at camp? Given that children may carry COVID-19 without showing symptoms, do you think this is enough? Have you considered limiting international or out of state staffers? To limit the regional spread of COVID-19 should an outbreak occur, have you considered limiting out of state or out of council campers? What is the response plan should a participant or staff get infected by COVID-19 at camp? Should a participant develop symptoms after returning home, what plan is in place to inform the camp and then notify the other participants that they potentially have been infected? Have you consider having meals at the individual campsites rather than at the cafeteria? Restaurants have been asked to limit the number of people admitted, currently at 25% capacity, and the size of parties, will the camp cafeteria follow the same rules? Restaurants have been asked to switch to disposable plates, utensils, and cups. Will the camp do the same? How are you facilitating social distancing at camp? Are you limiting non-campers from entering camp? Will family dinner night be cancelled? Are you cancelling campout wide activities such as flag opening and closing ceremonies, and camp-wide campfires? What programs or activities will be cancelled? People are required to wear masks while in public, including at state parks. Will the same requirement be enforced for all camp participants? What additional cleaning and sanitation actions will be put in place for the cafeteria, bathrooms, equipment and training areas? Do you have a website that posts the camp the COVID-19 preparation, planning, and response? What is the refund policy?

Are BSA and local councils being good citizens, helpful to others, courteous to vulnerable members of society, and kind to others by proceeding forward with summer camps? The Circle Ten Trevor Reeves-Jones Scout Camp, and I imagine others, have said they intended to proceed forward with camp this summer, but they don’t offer any mitigation plans for dealing with COVID-19. Perhaps I am the only one whole feels odd while filling out medical forms A, B, C with questions about more fortunately uncommon diseases in the US, and yet there is no check box for the COVID-19 immunization (which I know doesn’t exist) or an antibody test, or taking a COVID-19 test just before arriving at camp, but this COVID-19 is much more likely to be brought into a camp and spread than any other item on the form. Searching the internet, I’ve seen other non-Scout camps at least try to mitigate the risk by taking steps like taking everyone’s temperature when arriving on-site, making staff show up two weeks early, closing cafeterias to switch to campsite meals, prohibiting visitors and parent days, cancelling all camp-wide gatherings like campfires and flag ceremonies, or changing programs to create mini non-interacting groups. I haven’t seen evidence of Scout Camps taking precautionary steps, at least not from TRJ. Even with precautionary steps, the risk remains high. Studies have shown that 50-60% of those with COVID-19 are a “Typhoid Mary”, spreading the virus without showing symptoms including a temperature. Many have proposed that companies with large staffs will have to have access to rapid testing of COVID-19 before allowing employees to work closely. Isn’t a camp with 400+ people similar in situation? While timelines are still in flux, the President’s 3 phase program may mean that some areas are still in phase 2, limiting gatherings to 50 people. I think almost every Scout camp is larger than that. While other camps may be in areas in phase 3, the Scouts are not all from the local area. Most Scouts go to a camp in another county. Some have said that summer school cannot be held, so why is camp any better? Others are preparing for cancellation of school in the fall, or reducing classroom populations by half by alternating school days. As a Scout leader, I am concerned that BSA and the councils are not showing leadership. Leaders are also parents. Perhaps BSA is creating a game of chicken to keep the camp deposits. Are you concerned about your child’s health, or more likely, coming home and spreading COVID-19 to other family members even if the child has no symptoms?