DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Summer camps are reopening across Pennsylvania, giving kids an outlet for daily fun, and their parents a break after a pandemic year.
The Harrisburg Jewish Community Center day camp at Green Hills Swim Club in Middle Paxton Township, Dauphin County reopened in June after closing for the past 15 months. Camp director, Lori Rubin, noticed the difference immediately.
"Kids can be kids and they can be outside and enjoy life and spend time outdoors," Rubin said. "And the parents are so happy their kids are tired when they get into the car."
Summer camp looks the same; the pool is filled while campers play sports in the field or draw in the arts and crafts shed. However, the feel is noticeably different. COVID-19 still exists, and at the Harrisburg JCC Summer Camp, not to mention dozens of other camps which welcome kindergartners to sixth graders, virtually none of children are vaccinated. The Pfizer vaccine is only available currently to kids 12-years-old and up.
Some staff, who are mostly teens, are vaccinated. However, Rubin decided, with consultation help from local pediatricians and an infectious disease expert, that as long as there are unvaccinated people on camp grounds, mask-wearing is mandatory.
The rules follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Camp Association guidelines. Campers and staff must wear masks at all times, unless they are swimming, eating, drinking, or doing high-intensity activity. Another recommendation is for campers to be separated and stay in groups, typically by age.
"There are no camp-wide connected activities," Rubin said. "So, even though we do camp-wide activities, we do them separately, and distanced, across a field."
Many of the children are used to the separation at this point, as Rubin said campers did the same mitigation last year, when the summer camp was held at the Harrisburg JCC on Front Street in Susquehanna Township, as opposed to their usual spot at Green Hills.
"Kids are resilient and they're excited to be back," Rubin said. "The staff that have been here many years are extremely excited to see kids again."