To the Editor:
“Summer Camps Close or Prepare for ‘Bubble,’ Putting Parents in Bind” (news article, May 23) outlines the difficulty camps and parents face without a consistent policy for opening. Camp is critical to a child’s well-being, and the need for recreation, exercise and socialization is even more critical after months of lockdown and social isolation.
Overnight camp may be a safer option for New York’s kids. With a strict policy of lockdown, segregation and testing, and by controlling the movements of staff and the activities of kids and denying access to unscreened individuals, we can create a temporary respite from the anxiety around Covid-19.
There are certainly reasons to be cautious about the well-being of our kids in the Covid world, but summer camps pose no greater risk than keeping them confined to the eye of the storm.
If it can be deemed important that we have restaurants, bowling and beaches available as part of a normal healthy lifestyle, it’s doubly important that our children have summer camp options available so that they, too, can return to a semblance of normalcy.
Shea Hecht
Brooklyn
The writer is chairman of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education and a board member for Camp Emunah.
To the Editor:
Re “How to Lower the Risk of Infection at Summer Camps,” by Aaron E. Carroll (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, May 21):
My colleagues and I cannot agree more with this point: “We should pledge public funds to camps, as we hopefully will to schools, so that everyone can benefit.” Without that support, the risks of camps being test cases are too grave, as many camps cannot afford to execute the needed changes properly.
Nonprofit camps are in a much better position to not open than for-profit camps. The nonprofits might have endowments, or major donors, and do at least have the ability to raise funds should the camp not open. Many camps have spent at least 50 percent of tuition by opening day and might not have cash in the bank to refund if they don’t open. This could devastate many camps, even permanently. I believe this might be one of the reasons some for-profit camps continue to steadfastly work toward opening, even in red zones.
Lauren Brandt Schloss
Wheatley Heights, N.Y.
The writer is executive director of Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, a nonprofit camp that has chosen not to open.
To the Editor:
Aaron E. Carroll has conjured gossamer threads of fantasy as to how an overnight camp could be run, suggesting no congregating in dining rooms, no indoor activities, canceling camp activities when it rains and daily screenings for the virus.
In reviewing the 2019 medical records of our six-week summer camp of 300 children, the infirmary recorded 94 visits by children who evidenced symptoms that would be considered within the Covid-19 complex. Enforcing the proper protocol today would eviscerate the camping experience before the summer had begun.
For the greater welfare of our children, our camp board of directors made the most painful decision not to open camp this summer. As great as a camping experience can be, the welfare of all of our children takes precedence over all.
Roger Korman
Bay Harbor Island, Fla.
The writer is director of Camp Tel Yehudah in Barryville, N.Y.
To the Editor:
As parents grapple with the safety or even possibility of sending their children to summer day camp, I offer a possible solution that was very common in Connecticut suburbs where I lived in the 1950s and ’60s. Mothers faced with 10 weeks of continuous child care got creative. In our neighborhood five or six mothers of similarly aged kids would band together and hire a teenager or two to create a “camp.” Each day, the camp would circulate to a different house.
What are the advantages? A small group of kids whom you know. An environment confined to five or six yards. Lower cost.
So what did we do in these camps? Bike decoration and bike parades, games like red light/green light, kickball, board games, arts and crafts, and sprinkler runs. Each day after lunch our “counselor” would read to us for half an hour. It was simple, it was flexible and it was not stressful for parents or kids. Think about it.
Deirdre Searles
Ajijic, Mexico
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Is It Safe for Summer Camps to Open? - The New York Times
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