This information is evolving and is based on the following assumptions and knowledge and information available today:

• There will be a Covid-19 reality in the summer of 2021.
• Moshava will be open for Kayitz, 2021.
• The health and safety of our campers and staff is our number one priority.
• Vaccines will not be widely available for children under 16 by the summer, 2021.
• The impact of vaccination on transmission of the virus has not yet been determined.
• Our goal is to develop the best protocols for pre-camp screening and preparation as well as our in-camp guidelines including testing, cohort-based programming, use of outdoor spaces, masking, sanitization, and community education and communication.
• Research shows that the most effective measures to mitigate the potential spread of Covid-19 at camp are the following Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) – outdoors, masking, and distancing.

TESTING – STAFF & CAMPERS

• Everyone will be required to take a PCR COVID-19 test four days before arrival at camp and upload the negative test results into CampMinder. We will only accept an RT-PCR test. For your convenience, we have made arrangements with PM Pediatrics, a pediatric urgent care center with locations throughout the US, to schedule and administer these tests at a site near you. Detailed information will be sent out in a subsequent communication.
• It is our recommendation that campers and staff seriously consider getting tested 10 days before camp arrival. A positive result at this time will allow for the requisite 10 day isolation period enabling the camper/staff member to travel to camp on time.
• International Campers and Staff – Anyone traveling to the US will be required to take the COVID-19 test 72 hours before departure. This test will count as your required four-day pre-camp RT-PCR test (in the event you travel directly from the airport to camp). If arriving in the US four or more days in advance of camp, an RT-PCR test is required four days before camp.
• We anticipate testing every staff member & child on the opening day prior to getting on the bus or entering our campus using a rapid test. We will use an antigen test with a high test validity.
• Five days after arrival, PCR tests will be administered to all staff and to all campers. Results should be obtained within 48 hours.
• Rapid tests and RT-PCR tests will be performed on anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms throughout the camp season.
• Positive Test Results – If a staff/ camper tests positive as a result of the test taken the week prior to camp, please contact our Head Nurse at camp to review the next steps.
• Staff and campers will NOT be allowed to board the bus to camp unless we have a copy of their negative test results on file with the camp. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
• COVID-19 POSITIVE – Any staff or camper that actually had Covid-19 ninety days or fewer prior to the start of their respective camp session, should contact the office.

 

HOME ISOLATION PRIOR TO CAMP 

• Staff – All staff members will be required to change their exposure behaviors for 4 days prior to the beginning of staff orientation. During this 4 day period, attendance at large gatherings (20+) will be strictly prohibited. All unmasked and non-distanced interactions with individuals outside your nuclear household are also prohibited. Attendance at school is permitted. In other words, the requirement is for full home isolation other than attendance at school.
• Campers – All campers will be required to change their exposure behaviors for 4 days prior to the beginning of their camp session. During this 4 day period, attendance at large gatherings (20+) will be strictly prohibited. All un-masked and non-distanced interactions with individuals outside your nuclear household are also prohibited. Attendance at school is permitted.
• International Staff and Campers – The period that staff and campers must change their exposure behaviors prior to arrival at camp can take place either at home and then board the plane to travel directly to camp OR travel to the US before the period begins and spend those days with friends and family following protocols above.

TRAVEL TO CAMP

• Car – Our preference is for all campers to travel to camp using camp transportation. If you choose to drive your child to camp, only the nuclear family can be in the car. Arrival times need to be scheduled in advance with the camp office to facilitate a staggered arrival. There will be a designated drop zone at the entrance to the camp where we will greet campers. Rapid tests will be administered there. Parents will not be allowed to enter the facility.
• Bus – Bus information will be sent out at the beginning of June. In locations with multiple buses, buses will have staggered departure times to allow for the rapid testing at the bus. There will also be specific protocols observed for bus travel which will be enumerated closer to camp.
• Plane Travel – Please upload all plane travel information into your CampMinder accounts. Please also e-mail that information to [email protected]. Guidelines for plane travel will be distributed in early June directly to all those traveling by plane. During travel, all staff and campers must be masked and carry hand sanitizer with them. To limit exposure, all should keep their distance from other travelers wherever possible.

• Closed Campus – Camp Moshava will create a camp-wide closed environment to protect against the transmission of the virus from outside and within the camp population. Once the initial home isolation period has been completed, the proper protocols for screening and testing are followed and participants arrive at camp, campers and staff members will be considered part of the protected environment and will not interact with those outside the camp premises.
• Visitors and Guests. There will be no visitors or guests this summer. Visiting Days are canceled for summer, 2021. Spouses of adult staff members will not be allowed to visit on Shabbat. The Guest House will not be open during the summer of 2021. All reservations will be refunded in full.
• Essential Visitors – Doctors and other medical personnel will be permitted to enter the camp to work during the summer. Standard screening and testing procedures will be followed upon arrival. Other examples of essential visitors could include technicians needed for repairs on major camp equipment who will also be allowed to enter the campus. They will be masked, supervised, and kept distant from our population.
• Community Members Leaving Campus – Anyone who leaves our campus, staff or camper, other than for permitted exceptions listed below, may not return to camp. Once they have left the Moshava campus, return is not possible except when the campus is opened for the second session – following all protocols.
• Emergency Room/ Urgent Care Visits – If a child or staff member has to go to the emergency room, they will be accompanied by an adult as is our standard operating procedure. They will be required to mask, observe social distancing rules and visit medical facilities that follow strict Covid-19 guidelines. Wayne Memorial Hospital, our local hospital, is working with Wayne County camps to ensure the health and safety of all campers/ staff that will be treated at their facility.
• Trips – All outdoor adventure, hiking or wilderness experiences will take place with special precautions to avoid contact with people, not part of the Moshava closed community. Intercamp sports and gatherings will not be held this year. Camp will not go on trips to amusement parks, cities, or other populated areas. We are working with our bus company partners to ensure a safe mode of transportation.
• Caretakers and Security – Our maintenance staff will be vaccinated, masked, and socially distant from campers and staff members while working. Similarly, our guards at the gate and roving guards at night will be vaccinated, masked, and socially distant from campers and staff.
• Deliveries – All deliveries from UPS, FedEx, etc will be dropped at the entrance to the camp. Food deliveries, propane gas deliveries, chlorine deliveries for the pool, etc. will be allowed on campus. All drivers will be required to be masked and socially distant from our community.

• Attendance at both day camp or another overnight camp is permitted for those campers attending the second session. However, the last day that a camper may attend another program is Thursday, July 15. Home isolation should begin on Friday, July 16 and the pre-camp PCR test should be administered on either Friday, July 16 or Sunday, July 18 (which is Tisha B’Av so you may prefer Friday).
• Moshava will open the campus on Tuesday, July 20, the day the first month only campers go home and close it again on Wednesday, July 21 when the second month only campers arrive in camp.
• Full Season Campers and Staff – Full season campers and staff will be integrated into their second session bunks along with the second session only campers and staff.

• Outdoor Spaces – One of the keys to success this summer will be the moving of the maximum amount of activity – outdoors. We have rented 6 large tents – one for each Eidah. Tefillot, night activities, and other Eidah activities will be moved into these large tents. Staff will use them at night as a location to meet and to have organized activities. Smaller tents have been purchased to facilitate moving other program activities outdoors.
• Indoor Spaces – Air Circulation and Ventilation – There are some indoor spaces that will need to be utilized this summer such as camper bunks, kitchen, the marp (Health Center), and offices. We plan to optimize the air circulation and ventilation of indoor spaces that will be used. Doors and windows will be left open as much as possible. Exhaust fans will be maximally utilized. Buildings with HVAC systems will have HEPA and MERV filters installed.
• Cleaning, Sanitization, Handwashing – To minimize the transfer of Covid-19, we will focus on the cleaning of communal space, shared items, frequently touched surfaces, and overall handwashing and sanitizing. Our maintenance staff will perform general cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting multiple times a day. Bathrooms will be sanitized often throughout the day, as well. Additional handwashing stations will be placed around camp and high traffic areas. Handwashing will be required prior to all meals. Additional signage will be posted around camp as a reminder of health protocols.
• Public Bathrooms – Campers and staff will be encouraged to use the restroom in the location where they sleep. Public bathrooms will be cleaned multiple times during the day. Masking and distancing will be mandatory. Port-a-potties used in camp and at the campout site will be cleaned and sanitized frequently, as well.

• COHORTS/ PODS – Campers will be divided into initial cohorts of eidah/ gender. This includes all campers and counselors living together in those bunks. Each of these cohorts can be considered a “family unit” or pod and thus, within each cohort, there need not be masking or social distancing. Masks and social distancing are essential whenever a cohort may come into contact with another cohort anywhere in camp (“mixing and masking”) – certainly during the initial ten-day to two-week period of the session. All specialty staff will mask when working with groups. Non-counselor staff cohorts will be determined by the staff bunk where they are assigned. The prevalence of the virus in our population at the time camp begins may require us to reduce the size of the camper cohort initially to minimize the risk of covid transmission.
• Daily Activities. As much as possible, activities will be moved outdoors. All the great activities that we run at camp, we plan to run in the summer of 2021. Campers and staff will mask for activities that may include another cohort (“mixing and masking”).
• Meals – Meals will take place in shifts with cohorts separated by at least 6 feet and preferably with a physical barrier to delineate the space. We will be eating in the chadar ochel and at least two additional large outdoor spaces to provide ample space and separation. Food will be served family-style and campers and staff will not be allowed to get up for seconds but will remain seated and additional food will be brought into their area. Wait staff will be trained to follow clear protocols for the delivery of food into cohort areas.
• Tefillah – Tefillot will take place, by Eidah, in the large tents that we rented for each eidah. Within a single cohort when davening outdoors, masks will not be required. If multiple cohorts (ie non-counselor staff) are together for tefillot, everyone must be masked and socially distanced. Indoor tefilla, if it happens at all, always requires masking and social distancing.
• Singing will be permitted within the confines of a pre-established cohort only. This may change after the ten-day to two-week period of each month.
• Campers must bring their own personal water bottles. We have purchased numerous water bottle filling stations. There will be no drinking fountains available in camp.
• Sports equipment will be sanitized between the use of different cohorts following the guidelines that will be available in June, 2021.

• Triage – We will be setting up a tent outside of the Marp for triage. Campers with no Covid symptoms will be sent to the regular marp for treatment and campers with Covid symptoms will be sent to the “Covid” marp area.
• Moshava will be hiring two physicians during the first two weeks of each session and then one physician as usual in the last two weeks of each session. Moshava also has six nurses on staff during each session.
• Bunk counselors will complete daily Covid screening forms for each camper in their bunk. Any issues will be reported immediately to the infirmary and the child will be brought directly to the
• Medications – Medications will be distributed by cohort. We remind all that medications to need to be ordered through J Drugs and pre-packaged.
• Marp Facilities – All infirmary spaces will be thoroughly disinfected between patients throughout the day. Medical staff will be provided with PPE as recommended by the CDC and PA Dept. of Health.
• Moshava has contracted with a company to take X-rays at the infirmary. This will reduce the number of campers leaving our campus. Parents will be billed by Moshava and can submit these bills to insurance for reimbursement.
• Quarantine Facilities – Moshava has designated a building with individual rooms, bathrooms, and showers for housing those campers and/ or staff members that need to be isolated while awaiting test results or if they test positive for Covid-19 during the summer.
• COVID-19 Positive during camp – If a camper/staff member presents with COVID-19 symptoms, we will perform a PCR test. If negative, the person will then be returned to their cohort. In the event that a camper or staff members tests positive for Covid-19, he/she will remain in isolation until a parent/guardian can pick them up from camp. All families must have a plan in place for their child to be picked up in the event of a positive covid test. Presently, the protocols require that the camper/ staff member must remain in isolation for a ten-day period that includes at least twenty-four hours without any symptoms. Remaining in isolation in camp for ten days will be very difficult for any camper or staff member. The camper/staff member is welcome to rejoin the camp community after being home for ten days that includes at least twenty-four hours without any symptoms.
• Cohort Exposure to Covid-19 Positive Individual – The cohort will be isolated from the rest of the camp. We will administer individual PCR tests to all members of the cohort. We will provide a full day of activities and programming, including meals and tefillot, for this group while ensuring they do not come in contact with other cohorts. This quarantine period will extend for seven days from the last exposure to the Covid-19 positive individual. We will administer another PCR test to all members of the cohort toward the end of their isolation period and if negative they will resume their regular camp activities.

• Moshava will remain a device-free environment. We will be e-mailing and texting parents upon arrival of staff and campers to our campus and communicating frequently during the summer. We will be updating and sharing details of our active full daily program, events at camp and describing our unique, creative educational programming. There will be frequent postings on our website, as well.
• Any issues relating to COVID-19 directly will be shared with parents on a daily basis, if necessary. We intend that there will be complete transparency and sharing of information with our parent body.