Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Youth and Staff Attending Day Camps

As schools reopen nationwide, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in youth settings remains a concern. Here, we describe transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among >6800 youth and staff at YMCA of the Triangle day camps in North Carolina (March to August 2020).

We performed a retrospective analysis of deidentified SARS-CoV-2 cases reported by YMCA day camps in 6 counties (Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Orange, Wake) over 147 days. Inclusion criteria were youth and staff who enrolled or worked in camps during the study period. Individual-level youth and staff demographics (age, sex, race and ethnicity) were self-reported and linked to SARS-CoV-2 case data by using unique identifiers.

Youth (n = 5344; 66% white, 54% male, mean age 8.5 years) had a mean camp attendance rate of 88%; staff (n = 1486) were 64% white and 60% female (mean age 22 years). Seventeen primary SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred during the study period among 9 youth (mean age 9.7 years) and 8 staff (mean age 27 years) who were linked to 3030 contacts present in-person during the week before positive cases. Only 2 secondary infections (1 youth and 1 staff) were linked to primary cases. SARS-CoV-2 primary case attack rate was 0.6% (17/3030), and secondary case transmission rate was 0.07% (2/3011).

Extremely low youth and staff symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 attack and transmission rates were observed over a 147-day period across 54 YMCA camps from March to August 2020, when local coronavirus disease 2019 prevalence peaked. These findings suggest that the benefit of in-person programming in recreation settings with appropriate mitigation may outweigh the risk of viral transmission.