About 150 campers had to be evacuated from Camp Ouareau in Matawinie, Lanaudière, Quebec, after an outbreak of nine infections.
“The first full day, we actually had a young girl who vomited. So we sent her home. After four days, her parents informed us that she tested positive for COVID,” said Jacqui Raill, director of Camp Ouareau.
Among those sent home are four girls who came from Mexico, some whose parents had to reschedule flights to pick up their daughters.
Most of the infections are among staff — and some were physically unable to work after contracting the COVID-19 illness, Raill said.
As isolating all staff members and implementing new precautions became more difficult, Camp Ouareau decided to temporarily close completely. The camp hopes to reopen by July 13.
The virus was in some cases detected too late due to some false negative results from rapid tests.
“The unfortunate part about this year is that there is no allocation for residential camps to use PCR testing. Last year, every camper, CIT (counselor in training) and staff member had to be PCR tested,” Raill said. , who said she hopes the Quebec camp association can provide the camp with proper testing equipment in the near future.
The province’s camping association said last year all campers had to show a negative PCR test, but because access to those tests is now limited, this year they don’t.
“The PCR test is very important to us right now in terms of what makes the most sense and how we can reduce exposure. Because when we’re at our sites there’s a lot less risk, we’re only exposing each other at that point,” explained Shauna Joyce, vice president of the association.
Raill said the move was “the right thing to do” because “our number one [priority] is to have happy and healthy campers.”
Despite the recent cases, Dr. Earl Rubin, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, says there is a difference between the sleepaway camps and the Montreal community at large when it comes to COVID-19.
“In sleep-away camps, they’re all young, healthy people. But more importantly than that, it’s a closed environment where they don’t go out and come into contact with the elderly, the immunocompromised, the vulnerable population,” explained Dr. Rubin.
Having worked as a summer camp doctor for over 30 years, Dr. Rubin believes such camps should not be closed if children come down with colds without serious symptoms, even without knowing if it is COVID-19.
However, Dr. Rubin conducted PCR and antigen testing earlier in the pandemic to make sure the spread of COVID-19 was minimized among children in the camps.
The news comes as COVID-19 numbers rise across the province.
On Tuesday, the health ministry reported another 20 deaths and 147 hospitalizations in just 24 hours.
With files from CTV’s Matt Gilmour and Kelly Greig.
