For many Vermont camps, last year was a lost summer. No swim lessons or rock climbing. No making beeswax candles or friendship bracelets. No impromptu jam sessions before meals.
There were no campfires, either, and camp directors were in the dark. “It felt like we only knew how much we didn’t know,” said Frances McLaughlin, executive director of Farm & Wilderness, a Plymouth-based organization that runs sleepaway camps, day camps and a family camp.
This year, camps are more optimistic. With the help of updated guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday and mandatory guidelines released by the state on Friday, Vermont’s summer camps finally have a roadmap to return. McLaughlin said campers are in for a “special edition” summer.
“Camp is still gonna be awesome,” McLaughlin said. “Yes, it’ll be different, and it can still be an amazing time.”
How different? It depends on the camp and the activity, but the CDC guidelines place an emphasis on the layered approach Americans have grown accustomed to: masks, distancing and vaccinations.
Masks are recommended whenever campers aren’t eating, drinking or swimming, and distancing of at least 6 feet is encouraged even while outdoors. The CDC also recommends that camps set up “cohorts,” or small groups of campers, to limit possible transmission.
Vermont mandates that a camper arriving at an overnight camp will have to show proof of a negative test before arriving. At Farm & Wilderness, they will then be placed into a “pod” with the rest of their cabin, and campers will take another test about seven days after their arrival. At that point, cabin groups can start to do some activities with each other.
“We know how to prevent Covid from emerging in a community setting, so we’re taking the steps that have proved effective in other places,” McLaughlin said.
Vaccinations are now open to all Vermonters older than 16, but the federal Food and Drug Administration has yet to authorize the use of any Covid-19 vaccine for those under that age. Although children have been less likely to develop serious cases of Covid-19, the CDC said, they can still be infected and spread the virus to others.
Pfizer and Moderna began clinical trials for those under 16 in late March, and Johnson & Johnson expanded its trials to include adolescents 12-17 in early April. Results are expected to be published by the summer, but most overnight campers will likely have packed up their trunks before shots are made available.
So they have emphasized other strategies. McLaughlin hopes the overnight camps will function as closed communities, meaning some restrictions for camp staff. Employees are typically free to leave camp on their days and nights off but will have to stay nearby this summer.
“It’s definitely a hardship on some level, but they understand why we’re doing this,” McLaughlin said, adding that returning staffers are excited just to be heading back.
Masks will be required when indoors, in accordance with the Vermont Forward plan. Campers will be routinely screened for symptoms and will follow isolation guidelines put forward by the state Department of Health.
The extra safety protocols don’t seem to have made a dent in enthusiasm for this year’s camping season. Farm & Wilderness expects to welcome more than 700 individual campers this year, up from about 500 in 2019, in part thanks to a stronger online presence necessitated by the pandemic.
Lotus Lake Camp, a family-owned day camp in Williamstown, experienced a similar uptick in demand after closing last summer — the first time in the camp’s 70-year history. Lotus Lake opened registration Feb. 15. By Feb. 16, it was booked through the summer, Director and co-owner Beth Watson Allen said.
Part of that is a result of reduced capacity. Lotus Lake set a 90-camper per-week cap, down from 160 or more in a typical year. The camp has suspended its half-day programs for 4- and 5-year-olds, and there won’t be the usual horseback riding or gymnastics programs, either.
Campers will still rotate through different activity stations — making crafts, music or going on hikes — with their 10- to 18-camper pods.
“We are all committed to making sure that our behavior during those times is really low risk because nobody wants to bring Covid into camp,” Allen said.
As a day camp, Lotus Lake cannot operate as a closed environment the way overnight camps can. That means more restrictions for campers and staff in some areas, and more vigilance on the part of campers and families when off-site.
While overnight campers are advised to practice low-risk behavior in the two weeks before arriving, day campers will need to maintain those practices throughout their time enrolled.
McLaughlin said that campwide silent meetings on the grounds of Farm & Wilderness, which was founded on Quaker values, will have to be more spread out than usual.
But after a year off, she’s eager to welcome campers back.
“We know camp, and just being outside, can be a real balm for young people and for all of us,” McLaughlin said. “They’re gonna have just a pretty amazing time.”
