Is it safe to send your child to day camp?
For many children, one of the highlights of summer is attending camp, and it's good for them too. No matter what your child's interests are, camp helps children develop important social, emotional and cognitive skills and create memories that can last a lifetime. But is it safe to send your child to camp during the COVID-2019 pandemic?
Posted — UpdatedThe experts say:
Avoid camps where there is a lot of personal contact, such as a sports camp, says Dr. Robert Hutchins, a UNC Health internal medicine physician. “An art camp outside without having to share materials” is preferable, he says.
Factors to consider:
“The risk of everyone else and what their behavior has been is multiplicative,” says Emily Sickbert-Bennett, director of UNC Medical Center Infection Prevention.
“The camp should not allow a sick person to stay or work at camp,” Dr. Sickbert-Bennett says.
“The biggest challenge with eating is you have to take your mask off to eat,” says UNC Health pediatrician Dr. Elizabeth Blyth. “If there’s any way to eat outside, that would be ideal. We know there are clusters of COVID cases in which the people had been eating together indoors.”
How to stay safe:
Avoid overnight camps and camps in areas that have an especially high COVID-19 rate or have seen a recent spike in cases. Be prepared to cancel at the last minute if numbers rise, and prepare your child for that possibility.
Make sure your child wears a mask the whole time he or she is at camp, and encourage frequent hand-washing—especially after using the restroom. Pack a reusable water bottle, hand sanitizer and enough masks each day so that your child can always have one at the ready.
If your child does not want to wear a mask and cannot stay at least 6 feet apart from other children, consider a virtual camp instead.
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