NEW YORK — The following letter was submitted to VINnews by a an experienced nurse who works in a camp infirmary:
I dont usually write letters to the editor, but after seeing an article about the push to open overnight camps this summer, I feel it is my obligation to write this.
I have been working in a frum overnight camp infirmary for many years. My family is desperate to go camp just as much as everyone else is.
This whole proposal that overnight camps can be run as “closed system” with everyone being tested and cleared for COVID-19 before entering sounds great on paper, but in reality the plans and protocols for each camp need to be vetted and address many issues such as the following:
– ER trips. Kids will be kids. Every trip, we have to send dozens of kids to the local ER (and sometimes to farther out hospitals if they need a higher level of care) – this involves sending the medical escort (and maybe a camp driver) out of the closed system and exposing them to a hospital setting. How will camps deal with such common scenarios?
– Camp support workers. Sometimes the people who clean the camp and work at the back of the kitchen get cut as well. We patch them up and sometimes they should go to the ER but dont want to because they dont have health insurance. If they dont have health insurance, they are probably not getting tested or checked properly, and out of fear of losing their jobs, would probably not report if they were in contact with someone who tested positive.
– Deliveries. Food deliveries and packages come daily. There is no way to verify that any of these people coming in are not carrying coronavirus.
All it takes is one person to bring it into the “closed system” and it C”V doesnt end well. I for one do not want to be on the front lines of an outbreak in a summer camp.
A Concerned Parent / Staff Member
As reported by Vos Iz Neias