Camps
What to ask a camp director during the pandemic
BY JESS MICHAELS
NEW YORK FAMILY
When considering summer camp for
your child, it’s always important
to ask key questions about the
program and safety procedures before deciding
which camp will become your child’s
home away from home for years to come.
Questions often range from inquiring
about the session length, the swim program
or how many children are in a bunk.
However, amid a global pandemic, you are
certain to have many questions regarding
COVID this year. The good news for parents
is that both day and overnight camps
ran successfully last summer and were able
to mitigate the risk of COVID so children
could have both a safe and rewarding summer
at camp. Here are some questions you
might want to ask the camp director when
doing your camp research this year:
Can you explain what changes you
are making at camp this summer to keep
campers safe?
If you are researching a camp now, there
are many safety procedures that were put
in place by camps last summer that will
remain for 2021 summer, however, with
the pandemic changing month to month,
there are some changes that won’t be
known until closer to this summer. Camps
ran successfully in 2020 with safety procedures
to mitigate the risk of COVID such
as small group cohorts, daily health screenings,
additional hand washing/sanitizing,
increased sanitizing of facilities and the
camp program running mostly outdoors.
Although camp looked a little different,
the fundamentals of what makes camp so
special for children remained the same.
How can I get to know the camp before
registering?
Even amid the pandemic, there are many
ways to see the camp and get to know the
camp director. Day camps offer tours
throughout the year and can do so socially
distanced. Many overnight camps will offer
families the opportunity to visit camp this
spring as the weather warms up. Camp directors
are also happy to set up Zoom calls
or do an outdoor home visit in your backyard
or apartment building’s courtyard.
What are the procedures if a staff member
or child tests positive for COVID?
Based on last summer, if a camper or
staff member tests positive for COVID,
the camp will report it to the local health
department. If at day camp, the camp will
notify the camp community and let you
know if your child was exposed and needs
to quarantine. Overnight camps used testing
last year before campers and staff arrived
at camp and then a few days after they
arrived. If a test came back positive once at
camp, those exposed in the cohort would
quarantine and testing would be done. It’s
important to note that there were very few
positive cases of COVID at both day and
overnight camps in the northeast.
If COVID vaccines are available, will
you require them for this year?
It’s too soon to tell when a vaccine will
be available for children and young adults.
Camps will work with their local and state
health departments as vaccine information
becomes available.
What is your camp’s refund policy?
This has become an important question
that more and more people are asking of all
businesses since COVID hit in spring last
year. Before choosing a camp, it’s important
to understand their refund policy and what
date you have until to ask for your money
back or to roll it over to the following year.
How do you handle separation anxiety
after a year of remote learning at home?
A good camp director will meet your
child where they are and are focused on the
social-emotional well-being of every child
at camp. In 2020, many children came to
camp with anxiety from being home from
school and not socializing with others for
an extended period of time. The good news
is that camp directors said it took just a few
days of being at camp for children to adjust.
Will you require testing before camp?
Testing in 2021 is going to look different
FILE PHOTO
than it did in 2020. For overnight camp,
parents can assume that some kind of testing
will take place.
Will my child have to wear a mask at
camp?
Last summer, children at day camp didn’t
need to wear masks, unless social distancing
couldn’t be maintained. Overnight campers
wore masks when around other cohorts and
also when social distancing couldn’t be maintained.
It is too early to tell what the mask
policy will be but one year later, however,
mask-wearing has become more common
place than it was last June and children have
become accustomed to wearing them daily.
What kind of screening process is done
at camp to make sure staff and campers
are healthy?
Both day and overnight camps required
daily health screenings each day with questions
asked about your child’s health and
temperatures being taken either at home,
at camp, or sometimes both.
Are there activities that will be eliminated
because of COVID?
With COVID, certain contact sports and
activities needed to be eliminated last summer.
Many camps also didn’t do fi eld trips
or inter-camp games to prevent exposure
to many people. It is too early to tell what
activities will need to change for 2021 but
camps offer dozens of activities and if a
camp needs to make some changes to keep
staff and campers safe, there are so many
other amazing activities to participate in.
Camps that ran in 2020 reported that even
with some changes, it was probably the best
summer they ever had because children
needed camp so much after months spent
at home.
SUMMER
CAMP
Registration now open!
Through the Y day camps and
specialty camps, parents can
trust the Y to give their kids a fun,
enriching, and high-quality camp
experience this summer — out of
the house and off screens.
IN-PERSON
HEALTHY KIDS DAY &
CAMP OPEN HOUSE
APRIL 17 | 10 AM-1 PM
Crafts, Games, Info & More!
VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSES
April 17 & May 15 | 10 AM-3 PM
Learn more and register
ymcanyc.org/camp
WEST SIDE YMCA
5 W 63RD ST
HARLEM YMCA
180 W 135th St
MCBURNEY YMCA
125 W 14th St
Financial assistance available. Contact your YMCA branch for more info.
EARLY BIRD
DISCOUNT
ENDS
APRIL 18!
Financial assistance available. Contact your YMCA branch for more info.
14 April 15, 2021 Schneps Media
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