New checklist for summer camp

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This article was published 08/06/2020 (2134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

West St. Paul has opened registration to local residents for its 2020 summer camps, although this year’s plans will look different due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The municipality’s recreation department will follow procedures and guidelines implemented by the Province of Manitoba for child-care services, according to recreation director Damara Geddes.

“Even though we’re not a child-care centre or a daycare, we’re going to be following all those guidelines just to make sure that all of the safety procedures and precautions we need to take are in place,” Geddes said.

Registration for non-residents will open Wed., June 10.

Camps will take place at West St. Paul School (3740 Main St.) and Sunova Centre (48 Holland Rd.), and campers will be split into two groups, with a maximum number of 24 children per location. Five staff members will be stationed at each site.

In the past there have been between 60 and 70 campers, but this year there are only 48 spots per week.

Children ages five to 11 are eligible to register. There will be eight weeks of camp between July 6 and Aug. 28.

In compliance with the regulations, special events such as the Nerf gun battle, laser tag, and bouncers have been suspended. But Geddes said she doesn’t believe this will put much of a damper on this year’s program.

“Technically all of those special guests that we had in, they were only really here for maybe an hour or an hour and a half for the children to participate in those activities, so we still had eight hours of a day that we still did our regular summer camp stuff,” she said. “I can see crafts being a big part of camp this year, and different activities like that.”

Staff and campers will be required to follow a regular handwashing schedule between activities and practice physical distancing. Yoga mats or towels might be used to demarcate personal space. As well, children might be required to bring their own essential craft supplies, or packages of supplies might be provided to them — Geddes said this has not been decided yet.

Parents/guardians must screen their children for symptoms prior to attending camp.

Different from previous years, children must be registered for a full week rather than individual days.

“This year unfortunately, just due to the restrictions that are in place, the screening, the tracking of the kids, we just couldn’t see how we could offer those very flexible registration options. Just having a bunch of kids coming and going kind of throughout the course of the week wouldn’t be the best scenario for us this year,” Geddes said.

For further details about guidelines or registration, visit weststpaul.com or call the West St. Paul recreation office 204-336-0294.