Summer Camp Health Practices

How We Keep Campers & Staff Healthy

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Updated for 2021

Health & Safety Practices

Since 1967, Pine Cove has existed to be used by God to transform the lives of people for His purposes and His glory. This purpose is no different today. Thus, in order to have effective ministry this summer, we have taken additional health and safety measures. However, an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present.

First and foremost, we consider CDC guidelines, national and international studies and state requirements with the goal of providing a safe and fun environment for campers and staff.  

Parents should use their best judgement regarding sending their child to camp and seek to protect any vulnerable persons who are members of the same household or come into frequent, close contact with infants, children and youth who attend camps. Campers returning from an overnight camp should minimize in-person contact with any person 65 years of age or older, especially those with pre-existing health conditions.

As parents, we want you to understand the rigorous efforts Pine Cove is taking toward protecting the health of your child. We are prepared for and have the ability to implement the following measures.

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Camper & Staff Screening

  • Parents should monitor the health of their children and not send them to camp if they exhibit any symptom of COVID-19.
  • Staff and campers will fill out a health questionnaire before camp to be assessed by our medical teams on their potential for risk while at camp.
  • Upon arrival, the driver of each car will be asked to sign a form that states the occupants have not been exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19. Campers will also have their temperatures scanned.
  • All full-time staff and camp nurses will be screened for prior exposure before entering camp.
  • Pine Cove has the ability to test any camper exhibiting symptoms on-site for COVID-19, perform contact tracing, and offers comfortable facilities to quarantine while waiting for parent pick up.
  • We have the ability to perform daily thermal scans for campers and staff.

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Stopping It Before It Starts

  • Open buildings will abide by capacity and physical distancing requirements.
  • Camper Mail: If sending mail to your camper, please include it inside their trunks as we will not be sorting and delivering camper mail this summer.
  • Campers will always have the option to opt out of an activity if they are not comfortable.
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Limiting the Spread

  • Cohorts – To help campers stay physically distant in 2021, campers will be part of a small group, called a cohort. A cohort consists of two or three “buddy cabins,” with whom campers will do all their indoor activities, including club, meals, and theme nights.
  • Face Coverings – While the state of Texas no longer requires wearing masks, we want all campers and staff to feel comfortable wearing masks at any time. Face coverings are listed as an item on our packing list to be used as needed while at camp.
  • Mealtimes – All camp meals will be served individually, not family style. There will be no buffets this summer.
  • Camper bunks – All campers will sleep head to toe in upper and lower bunks.
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Cleaning & Disinfecting

Electrostatic Sprayers

Pine Cove has made an investment in electrostatic sprayers that are highly effective in destroying viruses, including COVID-19, and are currently being used in hospitals, daycares, and on commercial airplanes. Alongside our already rigorous sanitation procedures, they will be used throughout the week to spray cabins, kitchens, pools, barns, ropes sheds, boats, and more with an organic liquid disinfectant approved by the EPA for use against COVID-19. Watch this video to learn more about why these sprayers are so effective.

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Preventing contamination

We have added multiple layers of cleaning and disinfecting policies and procedures with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to instill cleanliness standards for campers and staff, as well as thorough sanitization of cabins, camp buildings, restrooms, high-touch surfaces, and more.

Read Our Sanitization Procedures

Cleaning & Disinfecting

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Hydrate & Sanitize

Make Sanitizing Accessible - and Fun!

Hand sanitizer is available at every meal table and passed around to each camper as part of a sanitize cheer. We also have hand sanitizer in each building, including cabins, and at our activity class locations. Sanitizing our hands (and staying hydrated!) have always been important parts of our camp culture. Check out this fun video that the Pine Cove Ranch made during Summer 2019 to remind our campers and staff how important it is to be hydrated and sanitized—and to have fun while doing it!

Watch Now

Required Cleanliness Practices

Rigorous Handwashing

Here’s how we get all campers to wash their hands thoroughly and for the recommended twenty seconds.

Take It Seriously

We take handwashing seriously as the number one recommendation from the CDC for infection control.

Part of Our Program

Dining halls have handwashing stations right outside the door and all youth and day campers wash hands before meals.

Make It Fun

Staff are doing cheers, singing songs, and monitoring to make sure all campers wash their hands long enough and thoroughly.

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Summer Staff Health Training

Training

Training our staff and our campers is super important. We train our staff on how to properly sanitize, wash hands, and how to monitor campers to prevent behaviors that spread illness. For our campers we emphasize covering mouths when sneezing or coughing, avoiding unnecessary physical contact, and not sharing bathroom products.

We’re adjusting camp drop-off and pick-up procedures to prioritize your camper’s safety.

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Camp Medical Facilities

On-Site Medical Care

Every youth camp’s health center has always been staffed with a screened and experienced RN on site 24/7 and clinical services capable of providing labs and x-rays, suturing, splinting, administering oral and IV medications, and monitoring patients who are sick. Our East Texas and Central Texas regions also have an on-site clinic to quickly take care of medical needs beyond the camp health center.

Licensed Staff

Led by our Chief Medical Director Dr. Scott Lawrence, our talented medical team includes multiple physicians and over 300 nurses during the summer in two states across three regions. Their focus is on making the summer medical experience as safe and smooth as possible. This team is actively monitoring COVID-19 and making adjustments to care as needed. The big picture: skilled staffers are keeping an eye out for any kind of illness that could spread at camp.

If a Camper Tests Positive for COVID-19

If a camper tests positive for COVID-19, the camper’s parent or guardian should pick up, or have arranged to have picked up, the camper within 8 hours. When an individual tests positive for COVID-19, we will notify all parents or guardians of campers in the cohort. The parents or guardians may decide to either pick up their child from the camp or leave the child in the camp and trust the camp to take appropriate safeguards. Pine Cove will keep the cohort containing the individual who tested positive for COVID-19 isolated from other cohorts at the camp for the remainder of the camp session.

August 6 COVID-19 Update

Camper safety is our top priority and we remain committed to doing everything in our power to prevent the entry of COVID-19 into camp and mitigate its impact according to the Governor’s Texas State Health protocols when it does enter. All youth and family camps are currently open.

We have had thousands of campers and summer staff on all of our properties through our week 11 session, ending August 8th. At this time, we have had COVID-19 incidents at some of our camps in Texas. However, we are thankful that to date, almost 90% of our camp sessions have been unaffected by the coronavirus. 

We have communicated with all the camper families directly impacted via phone as well as the other campers at those camps in full transparency. We also communicate twice-weekly video health updates from our individual Camp Directors directly to parents of registered youth campers through our CampLife App. We are also working alongside the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, the Consumer Protection Agency, and our local county health officials and keeping them updated. They are fully aware of these COVID cases and have been very pleased with how we are handling them and mitigating the spread of the virus. 

When a camper or staff member is identified through our daily health screenings as having COVID-19 symptoms, they are immediately isolated, tested, and quarantined according to the Governor’s Texas State Health protocol for mitigating the virus when it enters camp. Campers are sent immediately to quarantine in their home. 

Please note that all of our camp properties are very separate facilities and there is no overlap for 2020 as part of our virus mitigation strategy. 

We are grateful for the trust you show us each summer and do not take it lightly. We will keep this information updated throughout the summer showing those camps impacted.

East Texas Camps: Tyler, Texas

Towers:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: One Towers staff members tested positive for COVID-19 following week 4. Their staff cabin mates tested negative. All registered Towers camper families for sessions week 4-11 received notification with details about this situation just so they are aware.
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: No cases

Ranch:

Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: Four camper cabins have been impacted by COVID-19 this week and four non-counselor behind-the-scenes staff. (The cabins included one senior counselor of a girls cabin, one boy camper and two of his counselors tested positive on Thursday evening, and two girl counselors Friday afternoon). Those who did test positive were immediately isolated and left camp to quarantine at home. All parents of remaining campers in cabins that were impacted have been called.

Timbers:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: Some of our staff and campers were impacted by COVID-19 during week 6. We decided to pause and cancel weeks 7 and 8 for a 14 day reset. All week 7 & 8 campers were called and emailed. Weeks 9-11 campers were also Emailed to keep them informed.
Week 7: Suspended
Week 8: Suspended
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: No cases

Shores:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: One Shores staff member, with no camper contact, tested positive. They were isolated, tested, and quarantined. Their staff cabin mates all tested negative. All registered Shores camper families for sessions week 4-11 received notification with details about the situation just so they are aware.
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: After campers concluded their session on Saturday, a few staff members began having symptoms that evening. They were immediately isolated, tested and left camp to quarantine at home before week 8 campers arrived. Their test results came back positive. A few campers from their cabin and buddy-cabin (cohort) have also reported testing positive. All parents from the cohort were called and all registered campers from Shores weeks 7,8, 9 received communication through the CampLife App.
Week 8: After hearing back from a few week 7 campers who tested positive and a few more staff early in week 8, we made the decision to conclude our session 8 of camp early in an abundance of caution and suspend our week 9 session at Shores. All campers from week 8 and 9 sessions were notified via phone call and email and week 10 and 11 families were also directly notified.
Week 9: Suspended
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: No cases

Woods:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: One adult camper tested positive after learning while at camp that they had been exposed prior to camp. The entire family and staffer with whom they were in contact have gone home to quarantine.
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: No cases

Bluffs:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: At the end of the week, we received a positive test result from one staff member. This staffer went home prior to week 5 campers leaving. The staff member’s staff cohort was also isolated and tested. On Sunday, we had more staff members test positive. All week 5 families were informed Saturday morning while still on property, and then individually called on Sunday with the additional results, asking each family to consider themselves exposed and to quarantine for 14 days.
Week 6: Suspended
Week 7: Suspended
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: No cases

Central Texas Camps: Columbus, Texas

Silverado:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: Some of our week 4 staff and campers were impacted from COVID-19. All registered camper parents were notified and asked to quarantine their campers for 14 days.
Week 5: Some of the staff and campers from week 5 were impacted from COVID-19 from staff who developed symptoms after camp started. We communicated with all camper parents and encouraged them to quarantine their campers. Fresh, unexposed, and ready-to-go staff members were brought in beginning week 6.
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases

Outback:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases

Ridge:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: A camper from our 2-week program learned while at camp they had been exposed prior to camp. They were isolated, tested and quarantined at home. They tested positive. Their cohort was also sent to quarantine at home and a few campers and staff later tested positive. Week 2-11 registered Ridge campers families were notified of this situation.
Week 3: More staff and some campers tested positive during week 3, so we made the decision to shut down Ridge for 14 days to reset with new, fresh staff. All registered camper families received notification.
Week 4: Suspended
Week 5: Suspended
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: One camper received word during his week that a parent had just tested positive. That camper was isolated, tested and went home mid-week. All the parents of other campers in his cabin and co-cabin (cohort) were called to let them know and contacted again when test results came back positive Friday morning. A work crew staff member who also had direct contact with this same cabin also tested positive and they along with other staff with whom they worked or bunked, also left property to quarantine at home. All camper parents from week 8 and 9 at the Ridge were also communicated with about this through the health updates on the CampLife app with a text alert and email.
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases

Crier Creek:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: We experienced a few COVID-19 cases toward the end of Week 5 and communicated with our week 5 families that they should consider themselves exposed and to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Week 6: We had a camper who unknowingly brought COVID-19 into camp week 6 and didn’t realize it until after he left. Unfortunately, it spread to 2 of our college summer staff who tested positive. We quarantined all of the other staff who were exposed to those 2 staff. We notified our Week 6 families with this update in case they needed to quarantine for 14 days, gave our week 7 families a heads up and notified our Week 8 families as well.
Week 7: One staff member tested positive toward the end of the week. They were isolated and the campers went home a day early. The remaining summer staff were also sent to quarantine at home. Fresh, new summer staff were brought in for Week 8 campers. All Week 8 campers were notified.
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases
Week 11: No cases

Southeast Camps: Lake Hartwell, South Carolina

Chimney Point:
Week 1: No cases
Week 2: No cases
Week 3: No cases
Week 4: No cases
Week 5: No cases
Week 6: No cases
Week 7: No cases
Week 8: No cases
Week 9: No cases
Week 10: No cases

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