Study shows how 4 Maine summer camps avoided COVID-19 infections – The Bethel Citizen

A new national study of four Maine summer camps details how the overnight camps prevented outbreaks of COVID-19, while similar camps in other states suffered through major outbreaks.

Dr. Laura Blaisdell, a pediatrician from South Portland and also a medical director at one of the camps, said the four camps coordinated to devise similar prevention strategies. The strategies included testing, masking, quarantine, physical distancing and making sure students stayed in small groups of 10-20 to prevent outbreaks.

We needed to throw the entire kitchen sink of public health intervention to prevent the spread of a disease like COVID-19, said Blaisdell, the lead author of the study.

The study was published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday, with Blaisdell and four other scientists as authors.

The Maine prevention strategy stands in contrast to summer camp outbreaks reported across the country, including in Texas, Missouri and Georgia. In the Georgia outbreak, more than 260 campers out of 344 tested were positive for COVID-19.

In Maine, through a combination of pre-screening, testing prior to starting camp and testing 1,022 campers and staff while they were at the overnight camps, a total of seven campers and staff tested positive. One of the tests of a camper ended up being a false positive.

Campers were told to quarantine with their families prior to arrival, and 15 attendees of one camp were instructed to quarantine while waiting for pre-screening test results to come back. When the tests came back negative a few days into camp, they were released from quarantine.

The four camps that were part of the study are not being identified to protect patient privacy, Blaisdell said.

Blaisdell said all of the staff and campers who tested positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic.

She said thats different from other infectious diseases, such as the flu. When people are most contagious from influenza, they feel sick and tend to stay home. She said what makes COVID-19 so difficult to contain is that people who feel healthy can have the disease and be contagious.

You cant pick or choose one strategy. You have to layer several strategies all day every day, every layer to have the best success. We know we cant provide a COVID-free environment, Blaisdell said.

She said by keeping students in groups of 10-20, that means just that group would go into quarantine when one person tested positive, rather than the entire camp.

Dr. Jeff Vergales, a Virginia pediatrician who was the medical director at two Maine summer camps and one of the authors of the study, said once the campers and staff arrived and tested negative, each camp turned into a bubble.

From an epidemiological standpoint, we could control who was coming in and out, Vergales said. We had an advantage of knowing about what these kids were doing day in and day out.

This story will be updated.

Invalid username/password.

Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

Previous

Latest Articles

Encore

Encore

Encore

Maine

Livermore Falls Advertiser

See the original post here:

Study shows how 4 Maine summer camps avoided COVID-19 infections - The Bethel Citizen