YES, WE ARE READY FOR CAMP EVEN DURING COVID!!
We hope 2021 is finding you well! We are so excited and in full planning mode for camps this summer! We are working on our parent packet, NEW! Safer Camp Guidelines, and are producing website and video content to help give campers and families a sense of what our 2021 camps will look like in more detail. With that in mind, we do want families to have time to talk about our guidelines and be able to ask us any questions you may have about upcoming camps!
Most importantly, we want you to know that Camp Telaphiba will still be camp: children will laugh and play outside; they will get to dance with their peers, participate in new activities, and make lifelong memories - they will make friends, they will interact with inspiring role models and incredible teachers, they will eat good food, they will gain (or regain) new appreciation for time away from technology and in the outdoors; they will discover strengths within themselves and they will have lots and lots of FUN!
The following guidelines are based on what we currently know and what we would need to have in place if we wanted to operate camp next week. We know these will likely evolve and change as state and local guidance changes, and we also feel very, very confident in our plans and in our ability to operate camps successfully in 2021. A brief overview of some of the modifications we will likely make, include:
A signed “COVID Commitment” form from all campers, camp families and staff; this commitment will be a series of agreements including taking precautions prior to arrival at camp.
A local or regional emergency contact who could, in the event of a positive test result, pick up the camper within a reasonable time period.
The understanding that, if a camper tests positive for COVID (with detectable viral loads in multiple tests), that camper will need to be picked up from camp and will not be able to return during the same session..
A testing model that will include: arrival at camp with a negative test and ongoing surveillance of the community throughout the camp.
A different look and feel for Opening and Closing Day: including scheduled arrival/departure times for car arrivals; parents will stay in their cars; more focused health screening; and more health care communication prior to camp.
Cohort models, grouped by age, at camps which will limit interaction between groups of campers.
Mask wearing and physical distancing requirements when/if campers/staff are interacting with others outside of their immediate living cohort.
Meal times will be staggered and will include multiple seating options.
Continued focus on community health and sanitation with handwashing stations, hand sanitizer, additional ventilation and cleaning of shared spaces.
Vaccines will not be required for campers this year; staff members will be strongly encouraged to receive the vaccine (if available to them).
We know many of these modifications are familiar to you because of the different models you have encountered in schools, youth sports, in public spaces and within your own individual communities. The summer camp community continues to share and develop excellent operational advice, guidance and research in the COVID era, with much of this information coming from camps that operated successfully in 2020.
We will send out more information via email over the next few weeks and months as we get closer to camp. The parent packet and initial detailed COVID guidlelines should arrive in the next couple of weeks. We will activate our forms in the Camp InTouch portal within the next week or two, but please expect additional forms and forms updates to be released as we learn more about new state childcare licensing requirements and CDPHE guidelines as they pertain to COVID.
Thank you for your continued commitment to Camp Telaphiba and to the unique summer dance camp experience. We look forward to providing a place for your camper(s) to connect and reconnect with each other, with themselves, with dance and with a sense of enthusiasm, confidence and independence.