COVID-19 outbreaks affecting several church camps
Total shutdowns largely avoided this summer
COVID-19 affected multiple church summer camps this year, forcing leaders of one to cancel the first two weeks of youth summer sessions because of an outbreak among staff members.
New Life Ranch Camp experienced an outbreak before the camp’s summer sessions were set to start in June, said Tom Graney, executive director of the camp. It started with three staff members testing positive for COVID, then “snowballed” to nine.
It didn’t stop there, and nearly 25 staffers ultimately tested positive for COVID-19 and the first weeks of camp were canceled after leaders consulted with a state epidemiologist and local health officials, Graney said.
“It was kind of the perfect storm, if you will, the timing of it, which caused us to cancel,” Graney said.
New Life Ranch Camp and other similar faith-based camps faced unique challenges in operating while mitigating the spread of COVID. Camps including Falls Creek youth summer camp, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Youth Camp and St. Crispin’s summer camp hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma all saw varying levels of success.
The Oklahoman learned members of at least one metro-area church, Waterloo Road Baptist, believe they were exposed to COVID while at Falls Creek Camp and Conference Center near Davis, resulting in leaders at the Edmond church canceling activities at the house of worship for several days.
Falls Creek, arguably the largest of the faith-based camps in the state, is owned and operated by Oklahoma Bap
tists, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Oklahoma affiliate.
Leaders with the Baptist faith group did not offer any details about an outbreak when asked by The Oklahoman about COVID challenges during camp sessions.
However, in an email statement, the Rev. Joe Ligon said the camp continued to adhere to strict protocols to protect the safety and health of staff and campers and the number of positive COVID cases remained statistically low at a time when the camp hosted more than 30,000 participants over the summer season. The last Falls Creek youth camp session of the summer ends on Friday.
“We are treating the threat of COVID with the utmost seriousness, as we closely monitor the situation and adapt our plans as this year’s summer youth camps end soon,” Ligon, Oklahoma Baptists’ interim executive director/treasurer, said in his statement.
Graney, at New Life Ranch in Colcord, said he and other camp leaders hoped this year’s summer sessions would be relatively COVID-free because they were able to host 2020 camp sessions with no problems.
He said the Colcord camp’s summer staff and a second camp in Adair was mostly made up of about 200 collegeage students. They were encouraged to get the COVID vaccine before they came to staff training but it was not required. Graney said staff members were asked to present a negative COVID test upon arrival if they did not get the vaccine.
When several staff members began to exhibit mild COVID-19 symptoms the day before the first week of camp, a nurse and doctor were brought in to administer COVID tests. Graney said the nondenominational camp’s leaders decided to place the staff on a 14day quarantine after several of the young adults tested positive for COVID and the decision was made to cancel the first two weeks of camp.
After these events, the camp added extra layers of safety measures including requiring negative COVID tests for both staff members and campers before attending a camp session. Campers were divided into small groups with limited close contact between the groups. Masks were required during indoor activities like chapel.
“The majority of folks have been fully supportive and on board with the steps that we’ve taken,” Graney said.
Those who showed up at camp without having taken a COVID test were directed to a camp leader who administered the test, Graney said. There were some campers who couldn’t attend camp because they tested positive for the virus when they took the test the night before their planned arrival.
Safe camping season
Meanwhile, Kate Carney Bond, the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma’s director of youth and young adults, said youth camp at St. Crispin’s Conference Center and Camp in Wewoka didn’t have to be curtailed.
“Camp ended last week and we are really proud of our protocols and how well we kept people safe while maintaining the fun and experience of summer camp,” Bond said. “I think the combination of pre-camp COVID testing, social distancing, podding of campers (placing campers in small groups) and mask requirements all made a difference in our ability to keep campers safe.”
Joe Cipriano, the director of youth, young adult and campus evangelization and discipleship for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, shared similar comments about Our Lady of Guadalupe Youth Camp.
Like Bond, Cipriano credited health protocols designed to keep the virus at bay for the lack of outbreaks. He said there were a few youths who didn’t make it to camp because they became ill beforehand, but those who visited the camp had no issues.
“We had a really good summer, a real safe summer. We had no outbreaks among staff members or campers,” he said.
He said leaders reduced capacity of the camp by 50% and decreased the number of days in each camp session. Prior to the pandemic, about 200 people visited camp each week but the current camp sessions had between 90 and 100 individuals.
Cipriano said more people experienced camp than leaders expected.
“Because we went to 50% capacity and also shorter weeks, we were able to get more campers at camp,” he said. “Our hope was to try to make it feel like camp but to be wise about the situation.”
At New Life Ranch Camp in Colcord, camp leaders added a special session of summer camp set for Sunday through July 31 so that campers who missed out because of earlier camp cancellations could experience camp.
“Honestly, we’re very thankful that many campers came through and we didn’t have any sort of outbreak among campers while at camp,” Graney said. “Overall, it’s just been a tremendous thing, a tremendous summer.”
“I think the combination of pre-camp COVID testing, social
distancing, podding of campers (placing campers in small
groups) and mask requirements all made a difference in our
ability to keep campers safe.”
Kate Carney Bond Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma’s director of youth and young adults