Summer Camp and School Age Care
The COVID-19 health and safety guidelines for summer camps and school age care
CDC’s Guidance for Operating Youth and Summer Camps During COVID-19 (updated 5/28/21)
CA’s 2021 COVID-19 Guidance Checklist For Day Camps and Other Supervised Youth Activities Settings. POST this checklist at your facility to show employees, youth, and families that you’ve reduced the risk and are open for operation.
CA’s COVID-19 INTERIM GUIDANCE: Day Camps (updated July 29, 2020)
Day camps and other supervised youth activities must follow the following portions of the K-12 schools guidance (updated March 20, 2021):
Guidance for day camps and other supervised youth activities does not apply to childcare or youth sports. Those sectors must follow the applicable guidance for childcare and youth sports.
CA Department of Education recently released updated transportation (bus) guidance
CA Guidance for Overnight Camps (updated May 13, 2021)
What is required in the daily health screening according to CA Guidance for Child Care Programs:
Providers must implement screening procedures for all staff and children before they enter the facility. Ask all individuals about COVID-19 symptoms within the last 24 hours and whether anyone in their home has had COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test. Exclude anyone who has an affirmative response on any of these points.
Document/track incidents of possible exposure and notify local health officials, staff, and families immediately of any possible case of COVID-19 while maintaining confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Conduct visual wellness checks of all children upon arrival and ask health questions when concerned.
Take children’s temperature each morning with a no-touch thermometer. If a thermometer requiring a touch-method (under the tongue or arm, forehead, etc.) is the only type available, it should only be used when a fever is suspected. Thermometers must be properly cleaned and disinfected after each use.
Monitor staff and children throughout the day for signs of illness; send home children with a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, cough, or other COVID-19 symptoms after isolating from the general room population and notify parents.
Programs must exclude any child, parent, caregiver, or staff showing symptoms of COVID-19. Staff should discuss with parent/caregiver and refer to the child’s health history form and/or emergency card to identify if the child has a history of allergies, which would not be a reason to exclude.
Establish procedures for safely transporting anyone sick home or to a healthcare facility, as appropriate.
Advise sick staff members and children not to return until they met CDC criteria to discontinue home isolation.
Resources for Summer Camp and School Age Programs
2021 California Summer Learning Guide: Ideas, resources and best practices for how to design and implement summer learning programs, with adaptations emerging from the pandemic (Partnership for Children & Youth, National Summer Learning Association)
Summer Learning Toolkit: Web-based tool sample documents from actual summer programs, tip sheets and research-based guidance (Wallace Foundation)
Resources for Planning and Implementing Summer Learning Programs: Presentations, training content and more designed for school boards and district administrators (California School Boards Association)
Summer Starts in September Program Planning Guide: Research-based strategies, program examples and tools program leaders can use (National Summer Learning Association)
Summer Learning Recruitment Guide: 8 key strategies for successful summer program recruitment on topics like outreach, registration and relationships (Wallace Foundation)
Small Cohort Protocols
Click here for an infographic that demonstrates the increased risks of COVID-19 transmission associated with the lack of coordination between child care/after-school programs and school cohorts. Visit the frequently asked questions page to get answers about this topic.