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CDC eases summer time camp Covid steerage, says absolutely vaccinated teenagers do not want masks

CDC eases summer camp Covid guidance, says fully vaccinated teens don't need masks

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday relaxed their public health guidelines for summer camps, stating that fully vaccinated teens do not need to wear face masks or stay three feet away from others.

Fully vaccinated teens should continue to wear masks when necessary, including at local businesses and in the workplace, according to the CDC. Camps can support staff or campers who continue to wear a mask even if they are vaccinated, the agency added.

While unvaccinated adolescents should continue to wear masks, the CDC said they generally do not need to wear masks outdoors unless they are in a “significant to high transmission” area, in a crowded environment, or during activities that involve continued close contact with others.

The CDC’s new guide is approaching Memorial Day holiday weekend, the start of the summer vacation and camping season for many Americans.

On Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky advised House lawmakers that the agency is revising its public health guidelines for summer camps to include vaccinated adolescents. Walensky approved expanded use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in 12 to 15 year olds two weeks ago.

As of Thursday, more than 165 million Americans 12 and older had received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the CDC. According to the CDC, more than 132 million Americans 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

Previous CDC guidelines recommended that all children wear masks, regardless of vaccination, with some exceptions for certain activities such as eating, drinking, or swimming. It has been criticized by some public health experts and parents who say the risk of spreading Covid outdoors is low and children are less likely to develop serious illnesses.

“My whole goal is to make sure the camps stay open and there are no outbreaks,” Walensky said during the hearing. She added that her own children didn’t go to camp last summer. “I want the camps to be open this summer.”

The guidance also comes two weeks after the CDC said fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away in most environments, whether outdoors or indoors. People who were not vaccinated should continue to wear masks, the agency said, as they continue to be at risk of mild or serious illness, death, and the risk of the disease spreading to others.

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Health

Summer time Camp F.A.Q.: C.D.C. Tips and Solutions From Consultants

Summer Camp F.A.Q.: C.D.C. Guidelines and Answers From Experts

For day camps, the CDC said that children ages 2 and up should always wear masks, except when eating, drinking, swimming, or napping, and should be divided into small groups that only interact with each other. All campers must be three feet from others in their cohort (six feet when eating or drinking) and six feet from everyone else (including their own counselors). The guidelines also recommend daily symptom checks for campers and employees, as well as regular Covid-19 tests for campers, if tests are available. Staff should be tested weekly when interacting with multiple groups of campers.

Updated

April 29, 2021, 7:03 a.m. ET

If your child is attending a night camp, the CDC has recommended that anyone eligible for a Covid vaccine should get a vaccine before they arrive, ideally at least two weeks in advance. Unvaccinated participants should try to practice Covid-19 safety measures – such as avoiding unnecessary travel, physical distancing, and wearing masks in public – for two weeks before the night camp begins, and they should have a Covid-19 test perform for up to three days before arriving.

At the camp, the CDC recommended that the campers be divided into groups by cabin and that daily symptom checks and regular tests be carried out. Campers only need to wear masks and physical distance around those who are not in their bunks.

Note that federal guidelines are intended to supplement, not replace, state and local guidelines. As a result, some states may choose not to follow suit, said Tom Rosenberg, president and executive director of ACA Texas overnight camp guidelines. For example, the camps do not require campers or employees to be checked for Covid-19 before or during the camp.They recommend testing whether a motor home or employee becomes ill during their stay. And some overnight camps allow campers from different groups to mingle over time if local guidelines allow and there have been no cases, Rosenberg said.

State guidelines could also change between now and the beginning of the camp, said Dr. Lucy McBride, a Washington, DC doctor advising an overnight camp in Maine. “The landscape is changing tremendously,” she said. As such, parents may want to review camp logs just before their children’s visit to confirm what procedures are in place.

Campers who are at high risk of coronavirus complications (or their family members) may want to be even stricter with risk reduction and should be sure to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible, added Dr. McBride added. The camps may even advise some families that they are better off not sending their children to camp at all. High risk families may want to see their doctors. Some camps for children with medical conditions – such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association and American Diabetes Association camps – are practically running again this year for safety reasons.

Some camp traditions may not appear this year. “We’re not going to fill the loud, noisy dining room with incomprehensible shouting,” said Dr. Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease doctor at Columbia University, advising a handful of camps this summer. (Campers can still sing and sing, outdoors only.) Parents likely won’t be able to visit the cubicles or even step inside the cubicles, and staff may not be allowed to leave the camp site during breaks.

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World News

Rohingya Camp in Bangladesh Struck by Hearth

Rohingya Camp in Bangladesh Struck by Fire

Ms. Khatoon, 34, fled Rakhine state in 2017 and gave birth to her second child in the camp. She said she made a home for her family out of her little hut. Now, she said, she and her family had nothing to eat and nowhere to go.

More than 730,000 Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since a campaign against killing, rape and arson began against them in 2017. The town of Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh has become a makeshift home for hundreds of people. Thousands of Rohingya refugees are fleeing the violence campaign carried out by Myanmar’s army. The Rohingya have been relentlessly persecuted by the government and mobs of Buddhists who form the majority in Myanmar.

The settlements there turned into mega-camps as the huge influx of desperate people fleeing war or persecution broke in further. Onno van Manen, a country director for Save the Children in Bangladesh, said the fire was another devastating blow to the displaced Rohingya Muslims.

Mr Manen said that since 2017, more than a million refugees, half of whom are children, have lived in cramped camps with limited mobility, inadequate access to education, and abuse, including child marriage.

“Simply put, despite the relentless efforts of the humanitarian communities, a refugee camp is not a place for a child to grow up,” he said.

In May last year, a similar fire was burned to over 400 shelters in the nearby Kutupalang refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. In view of the increasing population and the construction of new shelters over time, it has become increasingly difficult for firefighters to navigate in slum areas.

Authorities in Bangladesh say they are trying to reduce the population in some camps with a plan to move 100,000 people to an island in the Bay of Bengal. Rights groups have criticized the plan, stating that the Rohingya would again be forcibly evicted.