KITCHENER -- Summer day camps can go ahead in Ontario after all, after getting the green light from the province to reopen.
There will be changes and safety measures put in place to keep campers and staff safe and healthy.
Aidan Tinning is one of the many eagers kids excited to get back to camp.
“Meeting new friends and having fun. Experiencing new things,” Tinning explains.
With summer around the corner, Aidan’s parents are anxious for details about registering.
“It’s kind of frustrating that we are in a need to know basis right now and we are hopeful that there’s policy in place to give these kids an opportunity,” says Aidan’s father Mark Tinning.
The City of Kitchener had cancelled in-person camps but now they are reconsidering.
“I think our preference would be to try to have some sort of in-person program available if that’s possible, but we need to look at that in the context of what are all the regulations and how can we meet those in various spaces,” says Kitchener mayor Berry Vrbanovic.
Meanwhile, some other camps are going ahead with day programming, including the YMCA.
“We are offering a total of 12 day camps across Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge , Guelph and Stratford ,” says Shum Attygalle with the YMCA.
YMCA campers will undergo daily on-site assessments and be placed into smaller groups.
All camps will be required by the province to have cleaning measures and ensure physical distancing.
The City of Waterloo is offering day camps at three different locations with a number of measures in place including maintaining groups of five and keeping a ratio of four to one of campers to camp counsellors.
“We have PPE on order for each of our staff to wear to limit any spread that way,” says Nancy Hall-Jump, leisure and active living programs manager for the City of Waterloo.
