Covid-19 and Summer Camp

Our highest priority is protecting the well-being of our campers and staff. We are working closely with camp professionals across the country to monitor COVID-19 and its possible implications for camps this summer. As you know, the situation is very fluid right now, and we will know more in time as the CDC and other healthcare professionals analyze data. We will use their guidance to take all precautions to protect your son. At the current time, we believe that our summer sessions will take place as planned. We will communicate frequently with you about this, including if there are any changes to this assessment.

Children can get infected but do not appear to be in an at-risk group for severe disease. Because group living is a fact of camp life, we already have in place policies and procedures to lessen the spread of communicable disease in a group setting. We have emphasized for years many of the suggestions the CDC is now recommending to lessen the spread of the coronavirus– hand washing (not the usual splash and dash but washing long enough to hum the birthday song 2X), use of hand sanitizer, sneezing into your elbow, not touching your face with your hands (hard not to do!). We are sure all of you are already emphasizing these practices at home.

A doctor and three nurses are on staff in the Laney health center throughout the summer. We will be in communication with all of them before camp regarding any changes we may need to make to our existing policies and procedures. One of our camp doctors is David Kimberlin, MD. Dr. Kimberlin is Co-Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UAB, and is a major infectious diseases leader for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He helped us deal effectively with the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. Dr. Kimberlin works with the CDC and the AAP on COVID-19 and will help us stay current as we move toward summer.

We are working hard preparing for another great season at Camp Laney!