COVID-19 At-Camp Prevention Strategies

Camp 42’s COVID-19 At-Camp Prevention Strategies are based on the guidance for summer camps issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Definition of Vaccination Status

The CDC has used a three-tiered COVID-19 vaccination status. 

  • Up to date (with all eligible boosters)
  • Fully vaccinated (having completed the primary series)
  • Not vaccinated

Camp 42 requires all participants to be fully vaccinated AND up to date with all eligible boosters.

  • Fully vaccinated* – Campers must have received the second shot of the initial series at least 3 weeks before the start of the relevant camp session.
  • Eligible boosters* – The CDC has approved one booster shot for all people 5yo and older who are not moderately or severely immunocompromised, and 2 for those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised. The first booster is recommended to be given at least 5 months after the second shot in the primary series for those who are not moderately or severely immunocompromised. Please refer to the CDC’s guidance for the timeframe for boosters for those who are moderately or severely compromised. Note: Participants who are eligible for a booster but have had COVID-19 within the last 60 days should consult with their doctor as to how soon to get the booster after recovering from COVID-19.
  • * Please note that these are requirements from past years. Camp 42 will base our policy on those of the American Camp Association, which are usually released in May.  Until then, you can view the CDC’s current recommendations here.

Testing

Before camp

  • If the participant is showing symptoms, please test as close to the start of camp as possible.
  • If the participant has been exposed to another person who has tested positive for COVID-19 within between 6 and 10 days of the start of camp, even if they have no symptoms, please test as close to the start of camp as possible.
  • If the participant was exposed to someone with a positive test for COVID-19 within 5 days of the start of camp, we will administer a test at camp.
  • If the participant has not been exposed to someone with a positive test for COVID-19 within the 10 days before camp AND has no symptoms, no test is required.

At camp 

Camp 42 will administer a COVID-19 test to any campers or staff who 

  • Is showing symptoms of COVID-19.
  • Was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 between 1 and 5 days before the start of camp.

Positive Test Results at Camp

If someone tests positive for COVID-19 at camp

  • The CDC recommends isolating for 5 days after a positive COVID test.  Unfortunately, this means that, due to the short length of camp, we will ask that the parents pick their camper up from camp if there is a positive test result.
  • Because all participants will be up to date on vaccines, anyone exposed to a camper who tests positive at camp does NOT need to quarantine.  The CDC recommends that these participants wear a mask for 10 days and get tested at least 5 days after the last contact with the person who tested positive.  Again, due to the short length of time, this test will most likely need to be done after camp at home and will not be done at camp.
  • The CDC’s resource on quarantine and isolation is here.

Masking

Camp 42 will NOT require participants to wear maks.  This is because everyone will have been fully vaccinated and up to date, the vast majority (if not all) of campers come from low-risk community levels, and the spaces we will occupy at camp together are not be considered a public space for the purposes of this discussion, but rather a cohort.  This is based on CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels recommendations.

COVID-19 Community Levels 

This is a tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. The CDC updates this information daily at 8pm.

The CDC recommends individuals be fully vaccinated and tested if they have symptoms across all COVID-19 Community Levels. The primary difference between them is masking recommendations, which are as follows.

Low Level

Wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19. Wear a mask on public transportation. You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others. 

Medium Level

Wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19. Wear a mask on public transportation. You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others. If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public and taking additional precautions.

High Level

Wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation. Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. Get tested if you have symptoms. If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider taking additional precautions.

County Map

Campers and Staff come from across the entire southeast region.  Several even come from outside the region.  Camp 42 does not know the counties each individual is coming from but will look at the region as a whole and monitor the counties at a high level during the period before the given week of camp.  Fortunately, the majority is at a low level.  

COVID-19 Community Level by county with recommendations can be found using this link.  This link provides an integrated county view and national map.

We ask staff and parents to check this resource to determine the level of the county in which their campers live and to decide accordingly if/when to mask at camp.  As stated above, Camp 42 will not require masks unless someone tests positive at camp and/or someone has recently been exposed to someone who has tested positive.  However, all participants are welcome to wear masks as an additional precaution if they choose.

Handwashing 

Camp will monitor and reinforce hand-washing, using hand sanitizer when hand washing is not an option.

Cleaning and disinfecting

Eating surfaces are cleaned and sanitized at every meal.

Updated 1/3/2024