REOPENING STEP BY STEP
Broward, Miami-Dade waiting to decide
Kayla Singh rides alongside instructor Elizabeth Constantine at Boca Riding Club in Delray Beach on Wednesday. Due to coronavirus concerns, Constantine has had to make adjustments to her summer camp program by cutting the number of kids in half, adding hand sanitizer stations and increasing her lunch tables from two to four. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that youth activities — including summer camp and organized sports — are allowed to reopen.
Florida’s governor says youth activities — including summer camp and organized sports — are now allowed to reopen, the latest steps to reinstate normal activities after two months of lockdown to stifle the coronavirus.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the decision, announced Friday at a park in Jacksonville, was safe because children appear to be less susceptible to complications from the coronavirus.
“Our kids have been out of organized activities for a couple months now,” he said. “We need to have a pathway to get it back.”
Leaders in South Florida reacted with caution. Broward
County said camps operated by the county would not be reopened.
The county is “not offering any youth sports or summer camps at this time,” said spokeswoman Margaret Stapleton.
“Parks and Recreation staff is assessing how programming can resume, with adherence to the requirements for social distancing, facial covering and sanitation,” Stapleton said.
Miami-Dade officials also said they will take it slowly, and camps and sports will remain closed until county authorities consult with local medical experts.
“We do not have a timetable as yet for any openings,” said county spokeswoman Myriam Marquez.
A Palm Beach County spokeswoman said they were awaiting for the governor’s formal order before allowing sports or camps to operate in the county.
What doctors say
Pediatricians had mixed opinions about whether the move is too hasty.
“We still don’t know enough about the disease,” said Dr. Bruce Peters, a professor at the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University. “We don’t even have a vaccine. It’s way too early.”
Children, he said, could infect the people they live with, including grandparents “who may be compromised because of age, and it could cause another peak, another outbreak of COVID. There are so many factors we can’t control.”
But Dr. Bonnie White, a pediatrician who appeared with DeSantis, noted that children haven’t been able to socialize for months.
“They need to be able to laugh with their friends,” she said, and parents need to do due diligence and keep their children home if they are sick, as they will when schools reopen.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, also at the news conference, said: “I think it’s important that we let kids be kids. The virus is still with us . ... We just can’t live in a perpetual lockdown . ... We’ve got to get back to a sense of this economy functioning.”
DeSantis noted that no one under age 25 has died of COVID-19 in Florida, although he acknowledged that some children have been infected and become critically ill.
“For whatever reason, kids don’t seem to get infected at the same rate” as adults, he said. But, “kids are not immune from this.”
State data show that 1,049 children 14 or younger had contracted the coronavirus as of
Thursday — about 3% of the total cases statewide. Forty-two children were hospitalized.
DeSantis said he would leave it up to parents to decide whether their children participate in activities.
“If you don’t feel comfortable doing it, then don’t do it,” he said.
Small groups, no field trips
While some summer camps were planning to stay closed, others will open with restrictions and new rules, such as no field trips, camp lunches or large group activities.
Children’s temperatures will be taken every morning after parents drop off them off at different time slots.
Ken Evans, executive director and founder of Camp Live Oak in Broward County, said his camp has been preparing for months for the day kids would be allowed to come to camp on June 8.
Children will be separated by age into groups of no more than nine and will spend the day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in their group spread throughout different areas of Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale.
The camp’s location in Dania Beach will not open this summer.
The campers’ temperatures will be taken three times a day, Evans said. Parents will be allowed to drop kids off but cannot exit their cars. Kids will not mix with other groups or play together.
Board games, playground equipment, picnic tables and bathrooms will be sanitized after each group leaves, Evans said. Bus trips to scuba dive and snorkel in the Florida Keys are gone. Campers will still be allowed to swim and paddleboard, but they will be separated during activities where masks are not worn.
“It’s a place where they could really run free and have fun, but at the same time learn the things that they’re going to need for the fall if they enter a classroom,” Evans said. “Not to touch each other, keeping hands off of each other, keeping their distances. They’ll know what to do. It’s a nice tool for the fall.”
Even with camp looking different this summer, Evans said eager parents call each day. Fifty kids have secured spots and a maximum of 80 will be allowed.
At Camp Sagemont in Weston, campers can expect to follow similar safety guidelines at the day camp from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. There will be some field trips allowed, although they will be virtual. Rob Mockrish, head of The Sagemont School, said the school’s day camp will reopen June 15 with its price remaining at the same at $350 a week.
“It’s going to look pretty much like it looks when you go to the grocery store,” Mockrish said.
Staff will take temperatures from the car before the children get out and step onto campus, and each room will be disinfected before the next group enters.
The “extreme camp” where children rock climb, kayak and surf is one of the most popular options, Mockrish said. But rather than taking trips outside, extreme campers will face rope and challenge courses set up in the school’s gym.
Activities in the game room, with board games and video game consoles, won’t change. The science room, robotics class, art class and drama program will also continue as usual, Mockrish said.
“We’re hopeful that camp is a positive and that it leads us to learn a great deal and get us ready for the fall,” Mockrish said.
Too many challenges
For other camps, the challenges have proven too complex and they have announced they will not open at all. These include sites operated by Broward and Palm Beach County schools.
Others are delaying their opening dates a few weeks or into July, while others are proceeding with a full roster of activities, including the camp at the Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, which will open to 400 kids on June 15.
“Parents need us now more than ever,” said Scott Ehrlich, the JCC’s chief executive officer. The camp will be about half its normal size and will have an assortment of new rules, including no field trips, no cafeteria salad bar, limited movement around the campus and masks for counselors and most campers.
At Boca Riding Club, a horseback riding camp west of Delray Beach, owner Elizabeth Constantin said she is cutting her number of campers from 24 to 12 and increasing her picnic tables from two to four. She will also install hand-sanitizing stations throughout her barns and private cubbies instead of a communal storage area.
It’s unclear whether the social-distancing transition can be accomplished at some larger camps. Camps sponsored by the Broward County Parks Department, which typically have more than 800 children at six parks, have not yet decided on an opening date, nor has the city of Sunrise’s camps, which normally have about 1,000 campers, including some at Broward school sites that are closed.
“We are still assessing the issue and have not made a final determination yet,” said Kevin Pickard, director of the City of Sunrise Leisure Services. “In addition to the risks associated with COVID-19, the lack of school sites is a major concern for us. We would have to substantially lower our registration numbers if the determination is made to continue on with a camp program.”
Whatever the precautions, some parents don’t want their kids anywhere near their activities.
“I will absolutely not send my child to a camp this year,” said Mayte Arteta-Martinez of Hollywood, mother of a 7-year-old. “I do not feel it is safe because children do not understand the concepts of social distance nor do I believe camp counselors/teachers are willing to take the time to constantly be watching over them to keep these parameters.
“It’s even scarier to think they will have to go to school in this pandemic.”