COVID-19 Updates

2022 Camp COVID FAQs – Read now!

COVID-19 Update Letter As Of Monday, May 9, 2022.

Dear CAA Families: 

We can’t wait to welcome our campers, staff, and faculty to Summer 2022 with the URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy (CAA).  

In this letter, you will find: 

1. Our COVID-19 Vaccine Policy
2. Our Multi-layered Approach to Mitigating COVID this Summer 
   1. Covid Behavior Brit 
   2. Protocols for Positive COVID Cases at Camp 
3. Guidance for Our Staff 
4. Next Steps 

The health and wellbeing of your children and our CAA community remains our highest priorities. To the best of our ability, we aim to run as normal a summer season as possible. While we are busy planning for fun and safe sessions, we want to provide clarity around as much of what we know around COVID-19 mitigation as of today. We are committed to the high quality of communication for which we are known as more information becomes available.  

Our COVID-19 Vaccine Policy 

Per URJ policy, all members of our community are required to be “up to date” with Covid-19 vaccinations recommended by the CDC based on their age and sequence. Vaccinations and/or available booster doses must be administered at least two weeks prior to participate in all URJ programs and camps including Creative Arts Academy and documentation must be uploaded to CampMinder at least FOUR weeks prior to arriving.  We ask that you upload your proof of vaccinations as soon as possible so that your camper can be verified as up to date.  Please contact us to let us know if your camper’s dose is scheduled between 2 and 4 weeks prior to arrival.  CDC information regarding being “up to date” on Covid-19 vaccinations can be found here. More information detailing the required vaccinations and/or boosters per session and age group can be found at the bottom of this page.  

Please contact us promptly if you have any questions or if your camper(s) will not be able to meet the vaccination requirements*.      

Our Multi-Layered Approach to Mitigating Covid This Summer 

Even with a fully vaccinated population there are no guarantees. While the vaccines and boosters do reduce the severity of disease, hospitalizations, and the transmission of illness, they cannot ensure that we will encounter no COVID at camp. Because of the uncertainty and imperfection of this task, we are relying again on a multi-layered approach to mitigating COVID this summer. The layers will look slightly different than they did last summer, as the COVID landscape has evolved significantly over the past year. A vaccinated camp community is our strongest baseline layer of mitigation. 

We have two goals for summer 2022 in relation to COVID: 

1. Prevent COVID from entering camp
2. Prepare to minimize spread if/when COVID enters camp

While these two goals may seem contradictory, they acknowledge the reality of the world we live in: we are planning and preparing for summer camp amid a rapidly evolving pandemic and equally complex cultural shifts in response to the pandemic. We are navigating this liminal space with as much care as possible. 

There are several mitigation layers we are addressing below to ensure you can plan for a safe summer. 

COVID Behavior Brit (Agreement) 

The 2022 COVID Behavior Brit includes guidance on how to minimize our participant’s COVID exposures in the week prior to coming to camp (for example, by masking in indoor public environments). It will not limit your camper’s ability to attend school, travel or participate in other camps in the days preceding their session. A new form has been added to each camper’s, staff’s and faculty’s camp minder. Please click here to complete the brit now! 

Protocols for Positive COVID Cases at Camp 

To protect the camp community from further spread, and to simultaneously ensure that any COVID+ community member receives appropriate care during their isolation period, we are requiring that all camp families plan for retrieving their child or staff member from camp to isolate at home (or elsewhere off campus) if they test positive for COVID at camp (we can discuss any specific challenges around this individually). Please have an Action Plan for your family in the event that your participant tests positive and needs to leave the community for recovery within 8 hours time. Information about length of isolation period and the potential return to camp on a case-by-case basis will be forthcoming. We are grateful for your partnership in keeping our entire community safe.  

Guidance for Our Staff 

To provide more flexibility while simultaneously continuing to manage the risk of COVID spread, we will provide guidance around trips off camp and the routine testing of and guidelines for staff and faculty taking time off camp. We learned from last year that our staff’s ability to take time off outside of the camp environment is of utmost importance to their individual wellbeing, and thereby to the camper experience and the sustainability of URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy. 

Showcase 

It is our hope to be able to have an in-person audience at our Showcase performances at the end of each session. We have hired a livestream company to broadcast all aspects of Showcase for any key stakeholders who are unable to join us for any reason, or if we are not able to move forward with these plans. As of now, the following considerations are in place:  

• All Showcase Attendees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and be able to provide proof of such before entry to our program spaces 
• Audience members will be masked for all indoor events, and seated several rows behind our camp participants as part of social distance mitigation strategies. 
• We will be limiting the number of attendees based on our session sizes and ability to keep our audience separate from our participants.  
• We will be following the CDC Community Risk Levels to assess whether we can safely have visitors on campus; both our local risk levels and the levels of those communities from which our guests may be travelling.  
• If you are hoping to join us for Showcase, please follow the guidelines we are asking of all families prior to camp. Travel insurance is also recommended. 

We understand that the fluid nature of the situation of these decisions makes it hard for hopeful attendees travelling from far distances to plan. We will do our best to keep you updated every step of the way and know that you will make the best decision for you and your family.  

Next Steps 

Review our website for information and FAQs which has even more detail about testing and masking.  

1. Work on your Family Action Plan 
2. Sign the COVID-19 Brit 
3. *Please do not forget to stay on top of all your summer registration forms including the J Drugs form.  

We know that the best practices surrounding COVID are continually changing. Our protocols and guidelines will always be subject to change based on the latest guidelines from health experts, state and local protocols, and other health authorities. The URJ follows the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Camping Association (ACA), Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), and our URJ Medical Advisory Team. We will continue to communicate openly and frequently about these plans.  

We are eager for summer to stART!  

*Are there are exceptions to the URJ vaccination policy?  

Yes, there are exceptions to the URJ vaccination policy, and they are rare. There are exceedingly rare circumstances where vaccination is contraindicated for bona fide medical reasons. Individuals who have had a documented allergy or severe adverse reaction to the usual childhood vaccination series might not be able to complete the specific immunization schedule outlined above. Additionally, individuals who are relatively immunodeficient (for example, people living with cancer or who are receiving chemotherapy, transplant recipients, and people receiving immunosuppressive drugs) may not be able to receive certain vaccines.  In these extremely rare circumstances, current documentation from a licensed Physician (MD or DO), or a Pediatric/Family Practice Advanced Practice Nurse (ARNP or PNP) not related to the individual, describing the condition that prevented immunization, must be furnished to URJ Camps and Programs Medical Advisory Team.  We will review these very rare situations on a case-by-case basis to determine if that individual can safely participate in the relevant URJ Camp or Program.