Montgomery County considering guidelines for summer camps
ROCKVILLE, Md. - Montgomery County Council is considering new guidelines and restrictions on summer camps. The council president and vice president released a proposal laying out the guidelines.
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The proposed guidelines include:
- Separating participants into groups of 25 people while indoors and 50 people while outdoors. Those groups cannot intermingle
- A cap of 25 people in a sleeping area with social distancing and infection control strategies in place
- No campers from outside Maryland, D.C. or Virginia
- COVID-19 protocol plan approved by county health official
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"We’re going to continue to monitor the data. If this proposal isn’t working and there’s more community spread we’re probably going to put in more restrictions. If it is working well we’re probably going to look at re-opening more things more safely as more vaccines get out there," Tom Hucker, Montgomery County Council President, said.
The BlackRock Center for Arts in Germantown says it’s been working hard on a summer camp plan after not being able to operate last summer. Their plan includes many of the same guidelines issued by the county such as, breaking campers up into pods and implementing COVID-19 cleaning protocols.
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"There’s also a counselor in training who will travel with the pods. This CIT is really responsible for ensuring all of the safety protocols are still being followed with the campers. They’re also responsible for cleaning before and after a pod moves from one location to another," Amanda Moskowitz, Director of Marketing and Communications for the BlackRock Center for the Arts said.
The center is even doing away with musical instrument use to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and creating other activities instead. But Moskowitz says everyone is just happy to welcome campers back this year.
"I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that we don’t envision the sound and laughter of little kids and just the feeling of coming together as a community again. We are just thrilled. We miss our students, we miss our parents, we’re ready and we know that they’re ready too," she said.
The Montgomery County Council will have a public hearing Tuesday morning before their vote. To make a public comment you must register by Monday at 5 p.m.