Camp Newman-Swig has canceled five of its sessions due to swine flu fears, according to a statement released on its Web site.
Affected sessions include Bonim, Shoshanim, Tzofim, Bogrim and Solel Aleph. All are four-day sessions.
Sessions 6-8 (Shomrim, Rishonim and Hagigah) will open June 25 and run until July 12. The rest of the summer will proceed as planned, the statement said.
Camp officials announced their decision June 18 after days of consulting with the local health department, the camp’s medical team, and the lay and professional leadership of the camp and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), which oversees the Santa Rosa camp.
“This was a painful and heartbreaking decision,” Rabbi Daniel Freelander, URJ senior vice president, said in the organization’s newsletter. “But at the end of the day, it was not a difficult one.
“While we deeply regret the disappointment that we know campers are feeling and the significant inconvenience to their parents, we made the only decision we could under the circumstances.”
In the days leading up to the first day of camp, which was to be June 17, 14 of the 160 staff members exhibited flu-like symptoms and several tested positive for influenza A.
The California Department of Public Health advised camp administrators that those affected likely have the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, Rabbi Elliott Kleinman of the URJ stated in a press release June 17.
The health department declined to check for that specific viral strain, but told camp directors that they “presumed it was H1N1,” and that the treatment for the H1N1 virus is identical to the treatment for influenza A.
“Fortunately, the illness has been relatively mild,” said Dr. Mary Maddux-Gonzalez, Sonoma County’s public health officer. “Some individuals have recovered already, and there were no hospitalizations.”
After consulting with medical and public health professionals and the URJ, administrators chose to delay the formal opening of camp the evening of June 16. They made phone calls to all campers and their families through the night and into the wee morning hours.
On the Camp Newman-Swig Web site, camp directors wrote, “While we know this will be tremendously inconvenient, we take our responsibility for the health and safety of children entrusted to our care as our foremost priority.”
Staff members were attending training at camp when they fell ill, and began a seven-day quarantine period June 16.
All staff affected are responding well to care from the camp physician and nursing staff, and are expected to fully recover within a few days, Kleinman said.
Elsewhere, the URJ has decided to open only for the second session at Camp Colemen in Cleveland, Ga.
Flu and flu-like symptoms have affected approximately 45 out of 160 staff members during the past week, according to the newsletter.
Procedures were put in place at Camp Coleman at the first sign of flu-like symptoms, including a seven-day isolation period.
As of June 19, other URJ camps – including Greene Family Camp in Texas and Jacobs Camp in Mississippi – were open and functioning normally.
Further questions or concerns can be directed to [email protected].
Staff writer Amanda Pazornik contributed to this report.