The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that 260 campers and staffers at a Georgia summer camp have tested positive for COVID-19.  The CDC says that although staff members were required to wear masks, the campers, average age 12, were not.  The camp had almost 600 campers and counselors.  The staff members had an average age of 17.

Groups of 15 campers generally stayed together in cohorts for activities, including sleeping in the same bunkhouse.  In addition to the campers not wearing masks,  and taking part in singing and cheering and close-contact activities, the CDC report says guidelines for keeping doors and windows open for ventilation were not followed.

The first infection was detected in a staff member on June 23, and the camp shut down June 27.  Everybody coming to the camp was required to have a negative COVID-19 test within 12 days of arrival at the camp.  After the outbreak was reported to the Georgia Department of Health, the Department recommended that everybody who had been at the camp be tested for COVID-19 and then isolate if positive.

The CDC published its report on July 31.   The report said not everybody from the camp was tested and it’s not clear if those who tested positive got the virus at camp or outside, and it wasn’t known how closely those at the camp adhered to prevention measures such as hand washing and physical distancing.

There have been few studies of children with COVID-19, but JAMA Pediatrics on July 30 published a study indicating that children under 5 had between 10 and 100 times the genetic material for SARS -CoV-2 that do older children or adults.  The study was in late March to late April, on 145 Chicago patients with mild to moderate illness, within one week of symptom onset.  There were three groups of patients — 46 children younger than 5, 51 children aged 5 to 17 years, and 48 adults aged 18 to 65 years.