How will Quebec's sleepaway camps be different this summer?
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. All programming will be outside and every camp will be its own closed community, with virtually no ins and outs. Photo by John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette  Article content As overnight summer camps reopen in Quebec for the first time since 2019, much will be the same: the majesty of nature, of course, and the opportunity for campers to learn new skills, develop new friendships and grow in myriad ways. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content But the coronavirus means some things will be different. The Association des camps du Qubec (ACQ) worked closely with public health authorities and physicians on a protocol to mitigate the risk of any outbreaks and keep everyone at camp safe. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video Much of camp life happens outdoors to begin with, but this summer all programming will be outside, including, in many cases, meals. Large event tents and canopies have been set up, more picnic tables ordered. Every camp will be its own closed community, with virtually no ins and outs: staff wont be permitted to leave the premises on days off or in the evenings. To be permitted to even enter camp, all campers and staff must show proof of a negative nose swab PCR test for COVID taken 48 hours before arriving, said ACQ executive director ric Beauchemin. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content On arriving, campers will be in a bubble, or cohort, by age group, with staff. Within the bubble, social distancing is not necessary. We are looking to create a family  and then that family will stay together, said Josh Pepin, executive director of Camp Bnai Brith in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, which started its season on Thursday. Campers under 10 dont have to wear masks. Others need to wear masks only when social distancing is not possible  and that should be rare. Say the 11-year-olds are crossing paths less than two metres from the 12-year-olds: theyre supposed to be wearing masks, said Grant McKenna, executive director of Camp Nominingue, a boys camp north of Mont-Tremblant. But our goal is to create situations to avoid mask wearing.  Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content At Nominingue, where the season begins on Saturday, hand sanitizer dispensers have been set up around the camp. The number of campers has been capped below capacity and there will be fewer occupants per tent than in other summers, to provide for two metres between their heads when theyre in their beds. Public health has encouraged everyone 12 and up to be vaccinated, and when Quebec announced in early May that sleepaway camps could reopen, camp staffers were given the status of essential workers. This meant they could advance their vaccination appointments. I think camp will be a pretty safe place this summer and a real place to get some holidays, said the ACQs Beauchemin. I know the variant could be an issue, but right now it is not the case. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content I have great confidence in our staff. They will respect the rules and make sure the kids respect them. Besides, anyone who has been to summer camp is used to having rules in place, he said. Camp life is full of rules. With every region of Quebec now a green zone and daily COVID cases low, Beauchemin suggested that a camp might not have to close in the event of an outbreak. Depending on what public health authorities determine, only those in the affected bubble would be isolated or possibly sent home, he said. But we dont want to get there. Thats why we want to take the measures. If the virus is not in camp after four or five days, we know it wont be. Although sleepaway camps were not permitted to operate in Quebec in 2020, day camps did open, and protocols planned with public health worked. With 1,000 camps open, there were outbreaks in just 10, Beauchemin said. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content An open letter signed by more than 85 health-care professionals called on the Quebec government in March to give the green light to overnight camps, citing a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. of camps that opened in 2020. The letter said the study found it is possible to provide a safe camp environment when rigorous risk-mitigation strategies are in place. The sleepaway camps are implementing what experts have dubbed the Swiss cheese model of pandemic defence. It is a strategy that recognizes that no single intervention is perfect  that each has holes, explained Brenda Lerman, executive director of Camp Massad in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, whose season began on Tuesday. We are layering several levels of interventions  personal responsibilities such as physical distancing, wearing masks and hand washing, and shared responsibilities like having all programming and dining outdoors, like making sure we are a closed community with no ins and outs  and the overlapping holes create barriers of entry that we are hoping will create a strong barrier of defence, she said. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Dr. Earl Rubin, director of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the Montreal Childrens Hospital, has been a camp doctor for 30 years and worked with the ACQ on the COVID protocol. A co-author of the open letter, he said he is cautiously optimistic about the reopening plan. Most Quebec camps are filled to capacity this summer and have waiting lists. I think the majority of parents are excited for their kids to get back to some sense of normalcy, Lerman said. With so many young people having spent much of the past school year at home on Zoom, there has been a worrisome increase in isolation, sedentariness, screen time, eating disorders and psychological distress, said the letter from the health professionals. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Share this article in your social network        Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Montreal Gazette Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Montreal Gazette, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. 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