BOISE — With summer here, many parents are signing up their kids up for in-person summer camps again this year. Lower COVID-19 positivity rates and the COVID-19 vaccine have some families feeling like it’s safe to go back.

To help keep kids as safe as they can be, Dr. Martha Taylor, the St. Luke’s Health System Medical Director for Urgent Care, said there are some precautions parents should think about first and steps parents should take if their kids are attending in-person summer or day camps.

While more Idahoans are getting vaccinated against COVID-19, the coronavirus remains a concern to parents. Currently, children ages 12 and older are eligible to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC strongly recommends that all children who are eligible be fully vaccinated prior to attending summer camps. The CDC has also posted guidance and considerations for summer camps.

Before enrolling or sending your child to a summer program, Dr. Taylor encourages parents to confirm what safety protocols are in place. According to the CDC, summer camps with a lower risk of spreading COVID-19 are those that:

• Strongly encourage eligible campers and staff to get vaccinated beforehand.
• Require face coverings be worn.
• Are mainly outdoors.
• Do daily health screenings.
• Limit shared objects.
• Disinfect commonly used areas often.
• Have children in smaller, separate breakout groups.
• Appropriately distance participants based on size and area.
• Require COVID-19 testing before overnight camps.
• Ask overnight campers to quarantine, wear masks and avoid unnecessary travel two weeks prior to attending.

Many organizations have posted their protocols and COVID-19 safety plans online. If not, parents should request to see it and ask questions about how many other campers and staffers children will be in contact with over their time in the program. It’s also important to understand how the organization will handle the situation if someone tests positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed.

Talking to children about steps they need to take and how camp will look different this year is also important, as is helping them practice wearing a mask for longer periods of time.

Kids may be less likely than adults to get extremely sick from COVID-19, but health experts are watching the variants closely to see if they are spreading more among children. COVID-19 cases in kids are rising, but also falling in other age groups due to the vaccine.