ACA: 2021 Looks to Be Another COVID-19 Summer

[RememberSchiff]

From American Camp Association Oct ,2020

Provided here are updates on the progress of the pandemic and expert insights into the hot topics of the time to assist camp professionals in planning and implementing safe and engaging camp experiences during the upcoming year.

Interesting note: most campers are unlikely to be vaccinated by Summer 2021 due to the following:

1. essential workers and those at highest risk will be prioritized to receive the vaccine while healthy children and adults will be eligible in later phases of vaccine delivery.

2. Second, safety data for COVID-19 vaccination of children will be gathered later, as only one vaccine manufacturer to date has opened recruitment in Phase 3 trials to children age 12 and older. Although we believe that camp staff may meet state criteria as essential childcare workers eligible for vaccination, camps are encouraged to plan for a camp 2021 season without the benefits of vaccination. So for 2021,  there will very likely be a continuation of 2020 summer camp cohort strategies and non-pharmaceutical interventions - masks, cohorts, distancing, frequent handwashing, enhanced sanitation, shorter camp weeks, no outside visitors.

https://www.acacamps.org/news-publications/blogs/camp-connection/2021-looks-be-another-covid-19-summer-camp-time-covid-19

American Camp Association has updated their Field Guide designed to provide camp directors and staff with a practical guide and tool kit to implement specific recommendations provided by the CDC in relation to risk reduction at camps. The objective of this field guide is to provide educational materials for camp staff to reduce potential exposures to and spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) the virus that causes COVID-19. The recommendations provided here are designed to be implemented for various types of camps (e.g. adventure/touring; day, resident, backcountry, weekend) and geographic locations and pertain to camps in geographical locations under low and medium mitigation conditions, according to federal guidance. Any recommendations in this guide should also coincide with a given camp’s communicable disease plan.

https://www.acacamps.org/resource-library/coronavirus/camp-business/field-guide-camps

Edited November 11, 2020 by RememberSchiff

[yknot]

33 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

From American Camp Association Oct ,2020

Provided here are updates on the progress of the pandemic and expert insights into the hot topics of the time to assist camp professionals in planning and implementing safe and engaging camp experiences during the upcoming year.

Interesting note: most campers are unlikely to be vaccinated by Summer 2021 due to the following:

1. essential workers and those at highest risk will be prioritized to receive the vaccine while healthy children and adults will be eligible in later phases of vaccine delivery.

2. Second, safety data for COVID-19 vaccination of children will be gathered later, as only one vaccine manufacturer to date has opened recruitment in Phase 3 trials to children age 12 and older. Although we believe that camp staff may meet state criteria as essential childcare workers eligible for vaccination, camps are encouraged to plan for a camp 2021 season without the benefits of vaccination. So for 2021,  there will very likely be a continuation of 2020 summer camp cohort strategies and non-pharmaceutical interventions - masks, cohorts, distancing, frequent handwashing, enhanced sanitation, shorter camp weeks, no outside visitors.

https://www.acacamps.org/news-publications/blogs/camp-connection/2021-looks-be-another-covid-19-summer-camp-time-covid-19

American Camp Association has updated their Field Guide designed to provide camp directors and staff with a practical guide and tool kit to implement specific recommendations provided by the CDC in relation to risk reduction at camps. The objective of this field guide is to provide educational materials for camp staff to reduce potential exposures to and spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) the virus that causes COVID-19. The recommendations provided here are designed to be implemented for various types of camps (e.g. adventure/touring; day, resident, backcountry, weekend) and geographic locations and pertain to camps in geographical locations under low and medium mitigation conditions, according to federal guidance. Any recommendations in this guide should also coincide with a given camp’s communicable disease plan.

https://www.acacamps.org/resource-library/coronavirus/camp-business/field-guide-camps

Frankly, I think the ACA ought to be looking at scout camps as a model for how camps can run with a minimum amount of risk. I was very skeptical and concerned in the spring and through the summer, but unless I've missed something there were no major outbreaks at scout camps where scouts tented solo. Granted, the season was very limited due to truncated camp sessions and it seemed like at least a 50% closure rate, but I would really like to see a post mortem. The camps that had problems -- and there were some major ones -- were mostly non scout that housed multiple campers in fixed structures like cabins. 

Also, in the aftermath of the vaccine announcement, there has been a lot of cautionary data about how a real return to normal is still years away. The time it will take everyone who wants a vaccine to get one will take time, but there is also the issue regarding children as noted above as well as that so far we have no duration of immunity data, either for antibodies produced by natural infection, residual immunity provided through other aspects of the immune system,  or immunity provided by a vaccine. Preliminary research has produced varied estimates. One hopes it's for years, but it could be short term and that would mean a regular revaccination schedule. 

 

 

[RememberSchiff]

Well in summer 2020, there were no major scout summer camp outbreaks in New England as our overnight  camps were closed either by Council or state regulatory agencies. There were  some in-person, short day camps and virtual merit badge classes.

Currently the second wave of new covid cases is upon us. ..Chris Stapleton's Very Covid Christmas Album anyone... Deck the halls with sanitizer 

In spring 2021, will units again independently plan their own summer camp, or will councils, or will there be no local scout summer camp? 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by RememberSchiff

[qwazse]

Camp Conestoga of Westmoreland-Fayette council provided an excellent week of well-staffed camp. I'd like to say "Wish you were here." But, the fact is that it is in the public's interest that local camps open throughout the country with layered non-pharmaceutical interventions. (Some of those layers ain't cheap. The staff did some serious sterilizing of shower houses.) Some campers came from a long ways away to attend our week (demand outstripped supply). That comes with its own risks.

The Georgia study has made me look more askew at cabins than I ever have before. Even cabins with a small number of residents saw transmissions. But, there was a lot going on in the state at large that increased the likelihood of childhood transmission. A comparison group of tent camps would have been interesting.

Tents have more air circulation than cabins ... but they also have fewer windows. Which means that kids aren't spending as much time in them. During slack time our scouts were as much, if not more. around a campfire, at their patrol tables, or in their hammocks than in their tents.