Central Florida summer camps adapt during pandemic

Some will offer virtual camps, others will be open with new changes

With the summer season quickly approaching, many parents are having conversations about summer camp but in the midst of cornavirus the questions remains if camps are still happening at all and, if so, what will they look like during a pandemic.

Anthony Trimble has two sons, a two year old and a six year old. He tells News 6, his oldest son went to camp last summer, and that he and his wife were hoping that opportunity would still be available this summer.

He said, when they reached out to the Growing Together Academy about summer programs. They were happy to hear camp was still happening.

However, Trimble said, camp will look a little different this year.

"They did let us know up front that there were going to be some changes, as far as where they were having it and how many children were allowed to attend, the cleaning," said Trimble.

The Growing Together Academy tells News 6 they are open this summer, and said they never closed amid COVID-19. The school said they still have space for more kids to come this summer, adding that they are following the guidelines put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trimble said summer camp for his son will include more STEM related activities, and projects where it’s easier to social distance.

While they are open, other camps will not be operating this summer.

The city of Winter Springs announced their summer programs have been cancelled opting to do things virtually.

Representatives with the Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida say they are an essential part when it comes to helping families in the community and they, too, will be open this summer.

The Senior Services Director, Jose Bastias, said, their operation will look a little different this year for their summer programs, describing, "facemasks, temperature taking, plexiglass, there's a lot of things that we have to figure out."

Bastias said they will be limiting each space so that there are only nine kids and one staff member in each area.

“Normally, in our normal summer, this place will be fully packed with 300 kids in the building; we are going to be lowering our numbers drastically,” said Bastias.


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