As portions of New York begin the first of a four-phase reopening plan, the question of whether the state will allow summer camps to open remains. Initially a concern about large gatherings, the decision has been complicated by a number of cases where children are becoming ill with a rare inflammatory syndrome believed to be related to COVID-19.
During Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Sunday briefing, a reporter asked a question about opening summer camps. State Budget Director Robert Mujica says there were guidelines being drawn for opening and operating summer camps.
“The new cases that were arising with children, right, we’re looking at re-looking at those guidelines. Other states around us were also moving to open summer camps, they’ve also slowed down that process. We do have guidelines for childcare but, as far as camps where people will be sleeping away, how you do that in the context of the new cases what are we looking at, so we don’t have an answer yet on summer camps, but we’re looking at opening them there,” Mujica says. “Their deadline, close to when they generally open is in the end of June, so we will get guidance out and make a decision way in time before that but, right now, the public health concern is the first.”
State officials say predominantly school-aged children experience symptoms similar to an atypical Kawasaki disease or a toxic shock-like syndrome. The first child death from the syndrome in New York was reported at the beginning of May. Sullivan County is part of the Mid-Hudson Region in terms of a reopening plan, and Sullivan County Manager Josh Potosek serves on its Regional Control Board. He says he has expressed to the state the public’s desire to know whether state-regulated summer camps will be opening this season.
“Safety is paramount with anything we try to reopen, so we’ve been working with both secular, non-secular camps on if they were to open or be allowed to open, how would that work. So we’ve been looking at plans that they’ve developed with Public Health and our EOC to see…and they’re close. They meet a lot of the metrics on how we would want to see a camp operate,” Potosek says. “So we are in the planning stages. We don’t want to be at the end of June and have a determination made scrambling to see how they could open safely. So I think we’ve taken a prudent approach and taken a couple of months of planning to see if they are allowed to open this is what it would look like.”
The Mid-Hudson has not yet met the seven metrics to start reopening. In addition to Sullivan, the Mid-Hudson Region per the state, is now Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Ulster and Westchester counties. The region remains under the NY Pause restrictions. During Sunday’s briefing, Cuomo also spoke to whether summer camps could reopen.
“This issue with this Kawasaki-like syndrome is, I think, very important,” Cuomo says. “We have about 120 cases now that we’re investigating in New York. People will say, oh, well that’s only 120 children. I don’t believe it’s only 120 children. I believe this is a syndrome that we are just discovering.”
He says 16 other states and five countries are starting to see the syndrome turn up in children. State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker says the number of children with the illness is rising across the country. Again, Cuomo.
“On the summer camps issue, on any of these children-related issue, it’s really important for us to get the facts on is this just 120 kids and it’s an anomaly or is that just the tip of the iceberg and that represents thousands of kids who have had this reaction,” says Cuomo.
Potosek says leaving summer camps closed likely would impact his county financially.
“Any people coming up here whether for camps or not are generating, employing people, so they’re employing some locals to operate the camps but also buying supplies and other needed things here,” says Potosek.
In addition to camps, counties are looking at whether a host of summer facilities could safely reopen, such as pools, and which events could still be held.
