Camp operators in Orange County — and nationwide — are feeling more optimistic this spring that they will be able to offer children a more “normal” camp experience this summer following two years of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From what we are seeing there is incredible demand. We’re seeing off-the-charts enrollment for camps in summer 2022,” said Tom Rosenberg, president and CEO of the American Camp Association, a nationwide organization that conducts research on camps and is the only independent national accrediting body for camps. “Camps are trying to scale up as much as they can. So many kids want to go to camp.”

After the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020 declared COVID-19 — the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus — a pandemic, camps nationwide were hit by a shock wave. Only 18 to 20 percent of the nation’s overnight camps were able to operate that summer and just 60 percent of day camps were open, Rosenberg said. Some states did not allow overnight camps to operate that summer at all, and neither did most counties in California, he said. As a result, many children stayed home and missed out.

Related links

What to bring to summer camp
Academic and STEM camps
Arts camps
City-run camps
Faith-based camps
Foreign language camps
Library hours
Sleep-away camps
Sports camps
Swimming, surfing and sailing camps, plus junior lifeguard programs

Public health authorities knew more about the virus by summer 2021. Testing was available and camps were better prepared. All 50 states allowed overnight and day camps to operate, and most did operate to some degree, many with limitations. Camps used a range of mitigation strategies to keep the virus at bay, including more deep cleaning, placing campers in small groups or “cohorts,” virus testing or pre-screening, and using masking and physical distancing, Rosenberg said. When done consistently, he said, these efforts made camps safe and campers were once again able to enjoy a positive in-person camp experience.

Heading in to summer 2022, the demand for summer camp is back, vaccines are available, and camps are ready to welcome campers.

“This should be a great summer for our kids to recover well-being,” Rosenberg said, adding that attending camp will help families combat “COVID fatigue.” Even if campers must wear masks, Rosenberg said, they will “have a blast.” This summer also offers a great opportunity for teens and young adults to work at a camp and achieve a sense of normalcy they need too, he said.

Overall, with testing widely available and vaccines now in the mix, summer camp should feel pretty normal, said Rosenberg. Local camp owners think so too, including Kim Esmond, owner of OC Dance Productions, a company that brings a variety of dance programs and camps to cities across Orange County. Esmond noted that this the first summer during the pandemic where children cAN be vaccinated, which gives parents more confidence that their kids will be OK. “That piece of it is really going to help.”

Esmond also pointed out that children have been attending school in-person throughout this school year, in close proximity to other kids, so many parents feel there is little difference between sending their child to school in person and sending their child to a dance camp.

“In summer there are less viruses around too,” she added.

Camp companies and vendors will probably have some restrictions this summer, such as having to follow cleaning or mask protocols as set by the cities in which they operate, Esmond said. Rules on masking will vary by city — “it’s their call,” she said — and mask policies could change by summer. Esmond said staffers and campers do not have to be vaccinated to attend OC Dance Productions dance camps.

Justin Taylor, owner of Firestorm Ultra in Westminster, a kids gym that offers tumbling, Ninja Warrior camp, aerial skills, trampoline and other activities, plans to run his usual camps for six weeks this summer for children ages 4-14. He does not expect his camps to be greatly affected by the virus this year and he expects a fun, busy summer camp season. Taylor said Firestorm Ultra camps were busy last summer, after children had spent the school year isolated at home.

“Parents were basically done. They wanted their kids out. Kids had spent so much time inside, in front of screens. So many of them had not used their bodies and that’s what we’re all about,” Taylor said.

Children do not have to be vaccinated to attend Firestorm Ultra, but currently, unvaccinated staffers and children must wear a mask; the gym works with charter schools and receives federal funding so the government requires this, he said. The mask rule could change by summer, Taylor noted. Firestorm Ultra asks people not to come in if they have a family member who is sick.

The virus has had a major impact on the Palette Station visual art program in Santa Ana, which also offers summer camps. When the pandemic struck, owner Ray Kubit shut down Palette Station for 15 months beginning March 17, 2020. His business lease was up that year in June, so Kubit let it go, and in early June 2021, he reopened Palette Station in a new location in Santa Ana.

Kubit is planning to hold visual art camps this summer at the new location for children ages 5-12. He said his staff is vaccinated and boosted as a requirement to bring after-school programs to the elementary schools in Tustin, and his indoor studio has a medical-grade air filtration system. Campers do not have to be vaccinated, Kubit said, and he is not yet sure what the summer camp mask policy will be.

Kubit is expecting a good summer camp season as well.

“It feels like things are starting to come back to a more normal pattern,” he said. Kubit said parents are more comfortable now “doing more than just taking their kids to school,” and the kids missed the extra activities. “I’m happy to see it coming back,” he said.

For more information

Visit the American Camp Association at acacamps.org to find a camp, look for financial aid from a camp, and to check whether the camp is ACA accredited.