We were able to open Camp in Summer 2020 and Summer 2021, and campers and staff unanimously agreed that these summers were some of the most meaningful and joyful seasons ever!
We’re gearing up and getting excited for Summer 2022! As always, campers and staff will be eager to return to camp to – get into nature, get off devices, connect in person with other young people, have a consistent routine, and be active and engaged while also having time for intentional reflection – what a magical summer this will be!
Until we have community immunity and/or coronavirus becomes endemic, the layering of multiple public health protocols allows us to minimize risk and operate Camp in the safest way possible.
Building on the successes of the last two summers, we’re confident we can create a happy, safe environment for your daughters. Not without risk – we acknowledge and appreciate the trust you are placing in us. As camp professionals, please know that risk management is our focus every summer! Our staff train, plan for, and practice challenging scenarios in their cabins and activities – so we are well versed in setting protocols and procedures for managing risk, while also offering opportunities for campers to take healthy risks – an important part of their development!
The information below represents our plans for the 2022 season as of June 1, 2022.
We will continue to follow the CDC, the WHO, and guidance from the American Camp Association (ACA). We will keep you informed as to any updates/changes.
The Camp Program
- The program will largely be the same as it is in a typical year. Campers will be on site for the full 7 week season and we will operate our Wonder Week and Wayseeker introductory programs. Campers will register on the first day of camp for the activities they want to take. They will create their own “schedule of a lifetime.”
- We will still have Thursdays which are our lazy days in Camp when girls sleep in and have an elective schedule all day.
- We will still have Big Sisters, Sunday team meetings, team meets and evening Vespers together on the Images.
- We will still have Wednesday campfires
- Maine Adventures – each group will have the opportunity to go on a trip off camp – these are all outdoor activities with minimal interaction with the public. Each of the senior camper groups will get to go on an overnight camping Maine adventure.
- We will continue with popular traditional events, like Song Night and Banquet, though the details of how we do these activities will be determined during the season.
- After an initial phase in which we insure the health of the camp family, we do plan to return to eating family style all together in the dining hall.
Pre-Camp Requirements
The initial and most important area for risk management related to COVID and other communicable diseases is for campers to arrive at Camp healthy. This was one of the keys to our success last summer! And, our partnership with camp families in this is significant.
- We strongly urge all campers to be up to date with COVID vaccinations, meaning fully vaccinated plus a booster if eligible.
- The more people who are vaccinated in our community, the less likely that we’ll experience an outbreak of COVID.
- Vaccination saves lives – decreases serious illness & decreases hospitalizations
- Vaccinations do not prevent all infections or transmission, but they do make a difference.
- It’s important to get boosted when eligible because vaccination does wane in infection prevention over time.
- As per CDC guidance, campers who are not up to date with vaccinations will be required to quarantine in the event of a COVID-19 exposure.
- Campers interested in doing any intercamp activities (horse show, tennis tournaments, competitive archery, sailing regattas etc.) will be required to be up to date with their COVID vaccinations.
- We ask all campers and their immediate families to practice LOW RISK behaviors in the 10 days prior to the camp season.
- Be aware of current transmission levels in your country/state/county
- We recommend outdoor activities and masking indoors with anyone who is not an immediate household family member. Surgical, KN95 or N95 masks recommended.
- Monitor your family’s health closely
- Please, please, please do everything you can to limit the chances that your child will arrive at Camp with COVID (or any other illness)!!!
- All campers will be required to submit a negative COVID-19 test result the day before arrival at Camp.
- This pre-test must be a PCR test done within 72 hours of arrival.
- If your daughter had a documented case of COVID in April, May or June 2022 you may use a rapid antigen COVID-19 test 24 hours before travel (because the PCR test may still show positive). If your daughter had COVID in the last three months, please upload documentation of the positive test to her CampDoc profile or email it to office@campwawenock.com
- If your daughter has COVID leading up to her arrival at camp, she will need to present a letter from her health care provider documenting the positive test date and stating that she is cleared to end isolation. (typically after 10 days and improved symptoms).
- If your camper is experiencing any COVID-like symptoms or has been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID or any other communicable disease, please contact Camp BEFORE your travel to discuss next steps. It would be preferable for your daughter to arrive at Camp late and healthy than sick on opening day.
Transportation to Camp
Please email office@campwawenock.com with your travel plans if you haven’t already completed the Travel To Camp Form. We ask that you take precautions and follow appropriate guidelines for safe travel, minimizing the potential for exposure to communicable diseases, such as COVID-19. Details to follow.
- Arrival by CAR:
- If you’re arriving by car, we will solicit your input regarding your preferred arrival window.
- Full Season and Wayseeker 1 families will be assigned times between 10:00am and 4:30pm on Wednesday June 29th.
- Wonder Week families will be assigned times in the mid afternoon on Sunday July 17th.
- Wayseeker 2 families will be assigned times in the mid afternoon on Sunday July 24th.
- Drop off will begin with a rapid antigen test, so please be prepared to wait 15 minutes for the result.
- Once you’ve completed your check-in at the Health Center and received a negative COVID test result, you will be asked to proceed to a designated drop-off location near your daughter’s cabin.
- We will welcome you and your daughter and you will have the chance to take her first day of camp photo in her cabin area! To protect the over-all community, we will ask families not to enter the cabins or any other camp buildings.
- You should anticipate the drop off to take a total of approximately 25 minutes, including the 15 minute test.
- If you have not previously seen camp, we will allow a brief tour prior to your departure. Please remember a swift goodbye is best for your daughter.
- Arrival by BUS from NJ and CT on opening day, June 29th.
- All campers riding the bus should be up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Prior to boarding the bus, your daughter will have a health screening which includes a COVID-19 rapid antigen test. Please be prepared to wait in your car for 15 minutes until your camper has received a negative test result.
- Campers riding the bus will be asked to wear a disposable medical or KN95 mask during travel.
- When your daughter arrives at Camp, she will have a health screening with the nurses.
- Arrival by PLANE:
- Campers arriving by plane should be up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Campers and their family members should wear a KN95 or N95 mask throughout their travel, regardless of airline rules. In addition, campers should keep their distance from other travelers in the airport, to the greatest extent possible.
- Your camper will be greeted at the airport by Wawenock staff who are fully vaccinated. When your daughter arrives at Camp, she will have a health screening with the nurses, which will include a rapid antigen test.
*Campers will not be allowed to join their group if they arrive at Camp with any COVID-like symptoms or of they test positive for COVID-19.
Cabin and Unit Living
While we await COVID testing on Day 3-5, we will employ “cohorts” to allow your daughter to have a group of campers with whom she can interact normally, while also preventing the possibility of widespread transmission of COVID-19, if it is brought into Camp.
- Upon arrival at Camp, your daughter’s cohort will be her grade group.
- Your daughter will NOT need to mask with her cohort. She will be able to interact completely normally with those in her cohort.
- Initially, campers will wear masks when indoors with campers or staff from another cohort. Please send your daughter with a supply of disposable surgical masks.
- Shutters will be kept up whenever possible to ensure optimal ventilation, and we will reinforce good and regular hygiene practices in the cabin and the bathroom.
- After we have done testing and feel confident that our population is healthy, we will cease “cohorting” and “masking”
- At any point in the season when we have a suspected case of COVID-19 anywhere in Camp we may return to our initial cohorts and to using masking until we can determine our COVID status.
Activities
Campers will select their activities on the first day of Camp, just as they have in the past. Most of our activities take place in the outdoors, which lowers the risk of potential transmission of COVID-19. In the early days of the season, we will move activities which typically happen inside to the outdoors as much as possible. (For example, we moved the tables in the pottery hut to just outside the hut and tables for crafts to the lawn of Owaissa.) Until we confirm the health of our camp family through the 3-5 day testing, campers will mask indoors with anyone who is not in their “cohort”.
Dining Hall
Initially, we will eat as a camp family, sorted by cohort with appropriate distancing between groups/tables, with half of us in the dining room and half of us under the covered outdoor dining area. After our 3-5 day testing, if we feel confident in the health of our camp family, we will return to eating family style with mixed ages at the tables all together inside the dining room!
Visitation
Our goal is for campers to have as safe, healthy, and fun summer as possible. At this time, we still feel we can safely offer an on-site visitation experience, AND it will require commitment, cooperation, and partnership with our families to do so while protecting the health of our community. Please be advised that we plan to have strict COVID mitigation efforts in place.
Families of full season campers may select one day/partial day to visit between Saturday July 23rd through Sunday July 31st. (There will be no visitation on Thursday July 28th.) We rely on your partnership to protect the health of our camp family. We ask visiting families to take measures prior to visitation to reduce their own likelihood for infection thus reducing the likelihood of spread into our camp family, so that campers may finish the season on a “normal” and positive note. To minimize the risk of COVID transmission while at Camp:
- Visitors are limited to immediate family (or an adult in lieu of immediate family)
- There will be a check-in process in which visitors will be required to present up to date COVID vaccinations/booster documentation
- In addition, visitors will be required to present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours and a negative rapid antigen test taken on the day of the visit.
- Visitors must remain outdoors, with the exception of the use of a designated bathroom.
- Visitation will occur on campus only
- We may require visitors to wear surgical masks – this will depend on the current rates of infection in July.
Wawenock’s typical visitation structure is designed to allow families flexibility in when they visit, to provide you with the opportunity to see Camp in its normal operation, and to allow you to get the best possible feel for your daughter’s life at Camp. Girls and their families look forward to visitation, yet it can also cause some stress and regression in campers being settled in camp life. In light of this as well as the pandemic, we ask families to select one visitation day.
- Visiting hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are between 9am and 3:30pm
- Visiting hours on Sunday are between 12:00 and 5:00; and 7:15-8:15pm to observe Vespers
- We do not provide lunch for visitors – you may bring a picnic lunch to share with your daughter at Camp. Please only bring food for your own family.
Many families have already made the decision not to visit on site due to the cost/travel challenges etc. All families should feel comfortable selecting a virtual visit in lieu of an in person visit. We will arrange a phone call/zoom call for those who wish to connect with their full season camper this way.
Please note, there is no visitation for Wayseeker or Wonder Week Campers.
Staff
- Staff are required to be up to date with COVID vaccinations.
- The majority of our staff live on site at Camp and their days and time off will be orchestrated thoughtfully to minimize potential for COVID transmission.
- It’s important for us to prioritize the mental well-being of our staff, and a significant part of that is their time off. As such, we plan to provide opportunities for off camp time.
- We will create reasonable off camp time protocols reflective of the current rates of transmission in our county, prioritizing time in the outdoors like hikes, picnics, beach days etc.
- If staff need to pick up supplies from a store, they will wear a surgical or KN95 mask.
In Case of Illness
In 2020 and 2021, we did not have any known cases of COVID-19 in our Camp Family. While we did everything we could to prevent coronavirus in Camp, we did open prepared for its presence. Following is our 2022 illness response plan:
- If a person presents with COVID-like symptoms, we will isolate and test the individual immediately.
- Any COVID positive individual will be isolated in the Health Center under the care of one of our Health Center Team. If it is a camper, we will call their parents/guardians and we will discuss plans for recovery. With the exception of Wonder Week campers, we are prepared for campers and staff to recuperate at Camp. After 5 days of isolation if symptoms have improved, the camper may return to activities wearing a mask for an additional 5 days. At completion of 10 days, the camper may return to sleep in their cabin.
- Recent close contacts of the positive individual will be monitored. Close contacts who are not up to date with vaccination may be quarantined and tested. Parents of campers who are quarantined will be informed.
- Health Center operations will continue out of our triage platform tent located immediately outside the Health Center.
- An email update will be sent to all camp families, to keep you updated, even if your daughter is not directly impacted.
As mentioned above, until we have community immunity or the coronavirus becomes endemic, implementing a layering of multiple public health protocols will allow us to minimize risk and operate Camp in the safest way possible. We will continue to monitoring guidelines from our local and national CDC, the WHO, as well as guidance from the American Camp Association (ACA).
Don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions: email wawenock@campwawenock.com or call 207-655-4657