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The United States has seen a series of COVID-19 outbreaks linked to summer camps in recent weeks in places like Texas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, in what some fear could be a preview for the next school year.
In some cases, epidemics have spread from the camp to the whole community.
The clusters have emerged as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States has turned the tide, increasing by more than 60% in the past two weeks, from an average of around 12,000 per day to around 19 500, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The increase in many places has been attributed to too many unvaccinated people and the highly contagious delta variant.
Gwen Ford, a 43-year-old science teacher from Adrian, Missouri, was cautiously optimistic when she watched the number of cases drop in the spring and enrolled her 12-year-old daughter at West Central Christian Service Camp in Missouri .
But a day after her daughter returned home after a week of playing in the camp pool, worshiping with friends, and sleeping in a dormitory, Ford received an email regarding an outbreak and then learned that her daughter’s camp buddy was infected.
“And we were like, ‘Oh, my God. He was someone you got to hang out with a bit, ”she recalls, adding that her daughter eventually tested negative. Ford said she definitely plans to get her daughter vaccinated. “It was very scary. Looks like we finally felt comfortable and it happened.
A note posted on the camp’s Facebook page showed that the camp nurse and several teachers and volunteers were among those infected. Camp staff did not respond to a call for comment.
JoAnn Martin, administrator of the surrounding Pettis County Public Health Agency, lamented the difficulty in getting people to take the virus seriously and get vaccinated.
“It’s been a challenge since the first case,” she said. “You have people who still say it’s not real. You have people who say it’s a cold. You have people who say what’s wrong. You have people who say this is all. a government conspiracy.
Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, said he was not surprised by the outbreaks as the camps reopen this year after being closed last summer. He said he doubted some camps “have given thought to the full implications of camping during COVID.”
Ideally, he said, the camps would require vaccinations for adults and for elderly campers, and take other measures such as serving team meals, putting fewer young people in cabins and requiring that everyone unvaccinated wears masks inside.
In the Houston area, health officials said more than 130 young people and adults have tested positive for the virus in cases linked to a religious camp attended by several hundred young people.
The pastor of Clear Creek Community Church in League City, Texas, said the outbreak occurred in two waves, first at camp, and then when people returned home in late June and spread the virus to their families.
“In some cases, entire families are sick,” Pastor Bruce Wesley said on the church’s Facebook page.
In Illinois, health officials said 85 adolescents and adults at a Christian youth camp in mid-June had tested positive, including an unvaccinated young adult who had been hospitalized, and some people from the camp had attended a nearby conference, resulting in 11 additional cases.
The Illinois Department of Public Health said all campers were eligible for the vaccine, but only “a handful” of campers and staff received it. The camp did not verify immunization status or demand that people wear masks indoors, according to the department.
The Leon County, Florida, health department, which includes Tallahassee, tweeted this month that an increase in cases there was also linked in part to summer camp outbreaks.
And in Kansas, about 50 people were infected in an outbreak linked to a religious summer camp held near Wichita last month.
Elsewhere the situation is better. The approximately 225 night camps and thousands of day camps run by local YMCAs are mostly open this summer, but with slightly reduced capacity, said Paul McEntire, director of operations for the YMCA of the United States.
McEntire said he was aware of a few cases in Camp Y where people have tested positive for the virus, but no cases of significant spread. He said many camps were taking precautions such as serving team or away meals and trying to keep young people in separate groups. Most need masks indoors, but he acknowledged that this can be a challenge.
“To be frank, there are parents who did not want to send their children unless they were assured that masking was used indoors,” he said. “There were others who took the exact opposite point of view.”
Ahead of the school year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidelines last week to say that vaccinated teachers and students do not need to wear masks indoors and that a distance of 3 feet from desks is not necessary for fully vaccinated individuals.
The summer camp epidemics “could certainly be a precursor” to what happens when kids return to school in the fall, said Dr. Michelle Prickett, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The outcome will depend on vaccination rates and prevalent viral variants, she said.
“We just have to be vigilant,” Prickett said.
Schaffner said he believed schools wouldn’t face similar outbreaks as they tend to be more structured and disciplined than camps and most have grown accustomed to making adjustments over the past year and a half. But he said the best way to reduce the risk is to get most people vaccinated.
“There are many parts of the country that just haven’t understood this,” he said.
The COVID-19 vaccine in the United States is licensed for people as young as 12 years old. It could be several months before regulators make a decision on whether to allow injections for children under 12. Studies on young people under 12 are still ongoing.
Ford, the teacher whose daughter narrowly escaped COVID-19 at a summer camp in Missouri, is worried.
“With the increase in cases, I’m afraid we may not be able to get back to normal, and we’ll have to ask people to mask themselves and everything,” she said, “and I have a feeling he’s going there has to be a huge argument.
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