The CDC plans to issue guidelines within the next week or 10 days regarding summer camp reopening and “best practices” for the Summer 2020 season. While these guidelines will not be mandatory, it is likely that many states including NY, NJ, Connecticut and Pennsylvania will adopt them and perhaps impose even more stringent requirements. Apparently, these guidelines will acknowledge that strict social distancing is impossible in a camp setting but may include many of the items discussed earlier in this thread and include some of the following.
*All campers and staff will have to be tested and show negative results within a short period of arrival
*Start-up dates for camps may be pushed back by several weeks, especially in Southern states where the school-year ends earlier
*The numbers of campers will have to be reduced over ordinary years to allow for some greater degree of social distancing
* The number of campers per bunk will be reduced and bunks reconfigured to maximize distancing
*Meal service and other activities involving large gatherings (minyanim??) will have to be staggered to reduce numbers and allow for more spacing
*cleaning staff will have to be increased substantially will new focus on “wiping down” common surfaces used in group activities
*increased on-site nursing staff to monitor campers and staff health, ability perform immediate testing where any symptoms are suspected
*limits on any offsite activities for campers
*no visiting days for parents and limited on/off property trips for counselors and staff once they arrive
*actions plans for immediate responses in case any campers/staff test positive for virus
Not clear how each state will implement these standards, or in the case of NY/NJ, whether Cuomo and Murphy will even decide to allow camps to reopen under ANY guidelines. If they do, there will be higher costs per camper as a result of fixed costs spread over fewer campers and higher costs to conform to the guidelines.
Good news is that children and teens continue to show lower infection rates and when they contract the virus, fewer complications and quicker recovery. However, most frum camps also have older staff who are at much greater risk so special care will still be needed to protect older rebbeim etc.