COVID-19 is an ongoing concern for parents. Although more and more people are getting vaccinated, young children have not yet been approved for the vaccine. With summer on the horizon and kids looking forward to resuming some normalcy, many parents are wondering whether their child should attend camp this year.
Unfortunately, this can be a challenging question for families, says Jeffrey Kahn, M.D., Director of Infectious Disease at Children's Health℠ and Professor at UT Southwestern. “First and foremost, we do not know how the pandemic will evolve over the coming months. Hopefully, we will continue to see a drop in the number of cases. However, many states are now seeing an increase in cases and these trends are quite concerning,” he says. “Further, many of the variants identified in various countries are now circulating in the U.S., including in North Texas.”
COVID-19 spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets released when talking, coughing or sneezing. This means that activities like camp can carry increased risk for the spread of viral infections, because they bring large groups of people close together.
However, there are ways that camps can reduce spread of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have outlined camp scenarios from high risk to low risk.
See tips to guide your decision and keep your child healthy.
