Camp Qwanoes near Crofton will wind down this week on a sombre note after at least 20 children and a dozen staff tested positive for COVID‑19 — a reminder of how highly contagious the Delta variant is, said the camp’s leader.
Camp executive director Scott Bayley said organizers also experienced firsthand the power of vaccination, because the staff members who ended up getting COVID were not double-vaccinated two weeks prior to the outbreak. “If every staff member had been vaccinated, no staff would have gotten it.”
About 250 children ages eight to 11 from throughout B.C. arrived on Aug. 15 for an overnight camp set to run until Aug. 20.
On Aug. 19, however, one child felt unwell and went home. The child was not showing classic COVID‑19 symptoms and did not receive a rapid test. Two days later, however, the camp received news that the girl had tested positive for COVID-19.
“That was always the camp we were most concerned about,” said Bayley, because campers were too young to be vaccinated. There is not yet a COVID-19 vaccine approved in Canada for those born in 2010 and later.
Both day and overnight camps planned for last week, as well as an overnight camp scheduled for this week, were cancelled, affecting about 500 campers. Counsellors called individual campers to check in — one mother reported her child cried all night, said Bayley.
Camp is always special for kids, but this year’s camp was extra-special because of last year’s pandemic restrictions, Bayley said, “and so then I think there’s extra pain when we had to cancel because there was so much hope.”
“We really feel for all the ones who couldn’t come.”
Last year, Qwanoes was only able to run day camps in August.
Island Health did not recommend the week-long closure, said Bayley, noting the camp took the step out of an abundance of caution, and because of the time it takes to get results of PCR or polymerase chain reaction tests for COVID‑19, considered the gold standard to detect the virus. Camp Qwanoes is closing out the summer with a four-day day camp for a reduced number of local youth, set to end Thursday.
“[The health authority] expressed very clearly they think it’s very safe for us to hold a day camp.”
The camp has registered nurses and first-aid attendants on hand, along with rapid tests for anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms.
Despite screening measures, Bayley suspects more than one child arrived at the Aug. 15-20 overnight camp unaware they had COVID-19, because the onset of symptoms can take days and some children are asymptomatic.
“It appears as though there would have been some kids that came without knowing,” said Bayley. “And this Delta variant is highly contagious, and so that’s the problem.”
While staff were strongly encouraged to get vaccinated, starting in May, Bayley said he was advised he couldn’t force employees to get COVID shots. “Most did, but some didn’t.”
After last summer’s closures, there was a large wait list this summer for both day and overnight camps.
Over seven weeks, more than 2,000 kids attended camp without incident, Bayley said. “It was awesome,” he said.
“The kids were so excited to be at camp. It was right after the seventh week that we heard the first COVID test positive.”
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
