Summer camps offer COVID lesson
Schools can take a cue from summer camps on how to keep kids safe from COVID-19. Credit: Getty Images/Dobrila Vignjevic
At overnight camps across the state, children are playing sports, singing on stage, eating in large cafeterias, sharing laughs and hugs and friendship — and being kids.
After a difficult year spent staring at a computer, a joyous summer is particularly welcome.
But it didn’t come easily. Camps developed specific protocols that kept both campers and staff safe. In many cases, counselors and other staff were required to be vaccinated and vaccination was encouraged for campers 12 and older. Campers were tested for COVID-19 — sometimes multiple times — before they arrived and again once they got on the camp grounds. Masks were required for at least the first several days.
But then, for thousands of overnight campers across the state, came an amazing moment. Entire camps were retested. And when there were zero positive cases, the masks could come off and cheers rang out. The camps had created a bubble COVID couldn’t puncture.
How do we capture that magic in our schools come fall? It’s not as simple, of course, since kids can't stay in school overnight and on weekends. But there are lessons to be learned and ideas to be gleaned to create a COVID-safe school year.
Start with getting the shots to everyone in school buildings who's eligible. Teachers, custodians, lunch aides, parent volunteers and, yes, older students. Offer the shots during school orientation days and back-to-school nights. If done right, some high schools could become true safe zones, where nearly everyone is vaccinated.
But some students are too young to get the shot. Vaccines aren't the answer for them — yet. That's where masks come in. We can't keep our kids in a COVID-free bubble outside of school, so they need to wear masks inside.
Camps used another less-discussed strategy that also could help schools. Testing — especially rapid testing at home or in schools — could be a key to keeping them open, keeping kids in classrooms, and keeping students and teachers safe. A study from the University of Oxford found that daily testing of those who had been in contact with someone with COVID-19 was just as effective as quarantining them. Just 1.5% of students who had been in contact with someone with COVID and then were tested daily came down with the virus. The percentage was slightly higher among those who quarantined.
Unlike last year, easy-to-use at-home tests offering quick results now are widely available. They're not perfect — there's always the chance for false negatives or positives — but their accuracy is high. Some communities across the country are offering them for free through libraries and other community spaces. An innovative testing strategy could include a statewide public-private partnership that makes at-home tests widely accessible to families. That could prevent students who have the virus from coming to school asymptomatically, allow those who've been in contact with someone with COVID to remain in school provided their tests are negative, and avoid a dreaded return to remote learning.
Across the country, schools already are shutting down due to COVID outbreaks. But on Long Island, a summer of safe play could teach us how to build a fall of safe learning, in hundreds of mini COVID-free bubbles inside our schools.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
