Criteria for Hosting a Physical Camp during a Pandemic
We've been getting a lot of questions about summer camps. Here’s the latest.
We’re All Sick of Coronavirus
We wish it had never shown up; we wish it would go away forever. With each day that passes while it interferes in our lives, we get more frustrated. Of course, there’s a temptation to throw caution to the wind and attempt a return to normal life. We must not be that weak. The virus has repeatedly shown its willingness to punish people who pretend that it doesn’t exist.
The death toll here in the US is about to hit 100,000. That’s a catastrophic number, made even more sobering by the fact that most of the dead probably thought it would never happen to them.
As far as we know, coronavirus hasn’t hit the Ace Peak community. We are committed to keeping it that way.
These Guidelines are for Everyone
These two articles are not just for Ace Peak, but for everyone in the academic world looking to host a physical camp.
Camp organizers have already lost a lot of money from COVID-19 disruptions. Every camp they skip is more lost, as well as missed opportunities to make a positive impact on the next generation. As much as we want to host more camps, making money is not worth risking the lives of attendees.
Students are bored, miss their friends, and love doing speech & debate. The longer they wait, the more cooped up they feel. But as much as they want to attend more camps, a physical camp experience is not worth risking the lives of you and your family members.
Does that mean we absolutely can’t do physical camps? No.
CDC Reopening Guidelines
Detailed reopening guidelines were released on May 21. The easy-to-read version is on the White House website. The full 60-page document can be found here. Fortunately, we’ve pored over the guidelines already to create a set of criteria specifically created for speech & debate camps.
Some politicians are making decisions ahead of CDC guidelines. We will be following the recommendations put out by the CDC’s experts, regardless of what local politicians choose.
Note: some state and local governments are reopening in a faster than the official guidelines permit. It’s too soon to know for sure how much of this is due to increased testing, but some states are seeing increased infections following their reopening (analysis here). We refuse to be part of the problem. We will not ignore the CDC guidelines, even if it is legal to do so.
Physical Camp Criteria
Here’s what we need in order to comply with expert health guidance:
4-Week Decline in Cases
The rate of new infections needs to have declined (or been nearly 0) for 4 consecutive weeks. We’ll look at both the state and county infection rates. As far as we know, nowhere in the mainland US meets that standard yet. The good news: any place could meet that standard in 4 weeks.
That means we may schedule a camp in an area that looks promising, contingent on cases continuing to go down. If it turns into another hotspot, we will cancel/reschedule the camp.
The good news: overall, the number of new cases in the US is declining (NBC News, using government data).
Social-Distancing-Enabled Facility
Unfortunately, we can’t have a “business-as-usual” camp where you sit with your friends, have lunch together, and play frisbee. Social distancing is critical until a treatment becomes available.
To maintain social distancing, we need at least one very large room with the following qualities:
Room to seat each family at a dedicated table that is at least 6 feet from any other table, and at least 12 feet from a door.
Paths for each family to get to their table without coming within 6 feet of another table.
Strongly preferable: at least two sets of doors, ideally on opposite ends of the room: one for entry, one for exit.
Strongly preferable: A hallway arrangement that permits one-way traffic in all areas (such as a big loop, or walking around the outside of the building).
Additional Safety Measures
In the next article, we’ll detail the additional procedures needed to protect camp attendees. For now, just note that they may cause a significant increase in the registration cost per student – potentially double what you’re used to.
We want to keep camps as affordable as possible. But compromising on the safety of attendees is unethical. We will not cut corners, and you shouldn’t trust anyone who is willing to.
Some might say we are going too far with these standards, and that's okay. We're not telling anyone what to do in their own homes or how to live their lives. But we are committed to ensuring that our camps will not be a dangerous place, and we will never compromise on that.
Online Camps are Coming
We know what this means. Frustratingly, we can’t safely host a physical camp for many of our readers for the foreseeable future. We hate that as much as you do.
The good news: online camps are coming. We’re created a whole new approach to take advantage of the online format, and you can participate even if you live in a hot spot.
Following the Reopening
Track your state’s rate of new cases on NBC’s continually-updated page here.
This is a generation-defining crisis; it is hitting each of us hard. But as rough as this time is, it is temporary. We will get through it together, and someday we’ll be back to intimate, group-seating, frisbee-playing camps. We’re as excited for that as you are.
Stay tuned for part 2.