Maine sleep-away camps prevented coronavirus spread among more than 1,000 people, CDC report finds

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Maine sleep-away camps prevented coronavirus spread among more than 1,000 people, CDC report finds

Thu, 2020-08-27 11:29 — mike kraft

Maine sleep-away camps prevented coronavirus spread among more than 1,000 people, CDC report finds Researchers say keeping campers and staff members in their own bubbles was key to identifying potential virus exposure and limiting spread. Lena H. Sun Washington Post

As school and public health officials look for ways to reopen classrooms safely throughout the country, a potential road map emerges from the experience of four sleep-away camps and the extensive measures they adopted to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus among more than 1,000 campers and staff members.

Their experience, described in a federal study published Wednesday, shows the measures necessary to keep the virus at bay. The four camps in Maine conducted virus testing before and after campers arrived and made them quarantine. Campers and counselors were kept in the same groups while at the camp. Face masks and physical distancing were employed, extensive cleaning and disinfection were frequent, and activities were conducted outdoors as much as possible, according to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Maine camps’ experience contrasts with that of a Georgia sleep-away camp where 260 children and staff members — three-quarters of the 344 tested — contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters. A CDC study of the Georgia camp found that asymptomatic infection was common and potentially contributed to undetected transmission.

Jeffrey Vergales, a pediatrician and senior author of the Maine study, said the key to limiting spread of the coronavirus and covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, at the four camps was keeping the 1,022 campers and staff members in separate bubbles, or cohorts, for the entire time.

That way, “if we had a case, we wouldn’t have to scramble to identify the contacts. We knew who they were, and we could very quickly quarantine those contacts,” said Vergales, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia. He added: “The fact that we had no known secondary spread is luck. The fact that we didn’t have an exponential outbreak is planning.”

Vergales and the other researchers said their findings have implications for the successful implementation of covid-19 mitigation strategies in other overnight camps and in residential schools and colleges. But they and other experts acknowledge that the extensive measures taken by the camps may not be as feasible in K-12 schools, where it’s harder to limit student interaction with the community. ...

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