This summer, while France is experiencing a fourth wave of coronavirus due in particular to the spread of the delta variant, the virus is coming to summer camps. Due to detected or confirmed cases of Covid-19, some stays have been canceled and others had to stop. The young participants and their supervision must then be repatriated, isolated and undergo repeated PCR tests.
The 13-year-old Philemon’s summer camp was supposed to last three weeks, but a week before the end, his parents received a text from him. “He told us that there were Covid cases in the village and that they were all going to be tested by the ARS which arrived the next morning”, says Soizic Guerin-Cauet, the teenager’s mother. She soon learned that it was within the colony itself, among staff and children, that these cases were suspected and then confirmed.
Within 24 hours, the Regional Health Agency decides on everyone’s repatriation. For Soizic Guerin-Cauet, this early return was bad. “I am a teacher, it was the only week of the summer when I was alone to work on my progressions and my readings., she says, And Philemon would have liked to continue his summer camp because he felt good there … In addition he was confined with a mother who worked all week. But everything was well organized by the summer camp organization. We’re pretty happy, it’s nobody’s fault! “
Yet everyone had been tested before departure, just like in this other colony, in Naples. The director, Quentin Glayal, remained confined to the hospital with one of the children for almost two weeks. “I did my best so that the youngster does not despair, that his parents are as confident as possible, he says, It was my primary mission. There was also my feeling that we had to put the most aside to make everyone hold on. “
These situations are not isolated, according to Jean-François Michel, the chairman of the council of youth travel organizers. He has also identified many other cases of vacation camps canceled or shortened during the month of July. “Twelve organizations have notified us of cases linked to Covid-19 in their structure, he reports, It could simply be a facilitator diagnosed with Covid, or it could be children. When there is a significant number of cases in a colony, for example in one of them, 20 young people have tested positive out of 150, the ARS can decide to close the center. “
There are cases, but we cannot speak of an explosion at the moment. However, the situation is changing and some companies are concerned. In fact, more and more families are canceling their stay in August because their children are positive for Covid-19.
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