Camp Mimanagish strives to be a safe and healthy wilderness retreat. This year, that includes new protocols and precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and its variants, which are among the most contagious of all viruses. It is crucial that we work together to ensure the health and safety of each member of the Mimanagish community.
Before Camp
Monitor your own health. If you are sick or have a cough or any other Covid symptom, stay home and take care of yourself.
If eligible, staff, volunteers, campers, and family members should get fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Please wait 2 weeks after completing vaccination for COVID-19 before traveling to camp.
Whether or not you are fully vaccinated, if you have recently had a close contact with any person with COVID-19, you should stay at home.
Everyone needs to fill out a health form and sign a waiver when registering.
Please bring a clean well-fitted mask for each day at camp. Gaiters, bandanas, and buffs are not approved face coverings.
Entering Camp
- Temperature readings will be taken upon arrival and daily for campers and staff.
- Campers will be asked three questions upon arrival at camp:
- Have you had any symptoms of COVID-19, or been around anyone with any symptoms of COVID-19 in the 14 days prior to the start of camp?
- Has anyone in your household been sick in the 14 days prior to camp?
- Will you agree to follow our Mimanagish COVID-19 protocols?
- If a temperature is above 104, or any symptoms are detected, Staff or campers will need to go home to recover and prevent the spread of the virus.
- Event leaders will divide participants into Pods of six or less people, who will be together in the same cabin, at meals, for work crews, and for designated shower time.
- Each participant will self-select a wristband indicating their comfort level around others.
Camp Cleaning
- A sanitizing work crew will clean the frequently touched surfaces around camp after each meal, for instance door handles, light switches, benches, tables, counters, mop handles, broom handles, garbage can lids, etc.
- The Bathhouse work crew will clean after each meal.
Dining Hall
- Wash your hands before entering the dining hall.
- Masks will be necessary before and after eating.
- Sanitizer will be placed right inside the front door to the dining hall and everyone entering will use it upon entry, and as needed.
- A server assigned to each table will be the only one handling food from the Kitchen Staff, wearing gloves when doing so. For instance, servers will bring items to the tables when necessary.
- When there is a serving line, campers will come to the serving line by pods while all others remain seated.
Campers will set “one moose” apart (6 feet) when eating.
- After meals, servers will stack dishes and put them into the dish tubs in the Dining Hall.
- All tables, benches, and condiment containers will be wiped down by the server before and after each meal.
- Sorry, no singing in the Dining Hall this year.
- Pods or individuals may choose to eat outside.
Kitchen Work Crews
- Two people from the same pod will work dish crew and two people from another pod will wash pots and pans after each meal.
- Gloves will be worn, washed, and sanitized for each work crew.
- Kitchen Staff will bring out needed supplies for servers to sanitize tables and clean floors after each meal.
- Please don’t enter the kitchen. Ask a Staff member for what you need.
In General
- Please keep no less than one moose (6 feet) apart; Pod members may be no less than one yardstick (3 feet) apart.
- Please wear a mask indoors when you are with people.
- Please wash your hands thoroughly and often with soap and water, especially after touching frequently used items, shared materials, or other surfaces. When soap and water is not available, hand sanitizer may be used.
Avoid touching your face.
Sneeze into a tissue or your elbow.
- Be outside as much as possible. It’s Camp! Enjoy this beautiful setting
Use gloves whenever possible. They can be washed and sanitized but not forever.
Install a small refrigerator in the dining hall corner for special foods people bring??? To avoid any traffic into the kitchen…
Push two dining tables together to make a large square table for each pod.
Use trays to facilitate pods or individuals taking food out to picnic tables.
Notes for Staff: Keep menus simple; no taco bar with 10 choices of toppings, for instance. Consider taking meal orders ahead and assembling them to order.
If someone gets sick: Follow CDC Guidelines
Staff will have available and consult the most recently updated CDC guidelines regarding overnight camps: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/summer-camps.html#anchor_1619118575813
Isolating and Transporting Children and Staff Who Have Symptoms While at Camp
Campers or staff might have COVID-19 symptoms while at your camp. You should take action to isolate people who begin to have these symptoms from other children and staff.
Plan to have an isolation room or an area, preferably with access to a separate restroom, that you can use to isolate a sick camper or staff member.
Ensure that isolated children are still under adult supervision. Arrange safe transportation home or to a healthcare facility (if severe symptoms) for the camper or staff member.
Close off areas used by a sick person and do not use these areas until after cleaning and disinfecting them; this includes surfaces or shared objects in the area, if applicable.
Within the first 24 hours after the sick person has been in the space, wait as long as possible (at least several hours) before cleaning and disinfecting. Before cleaning and disinfecting, improve ventilation by opening doors and windows, using fans, and/or using heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) settings to increase air circulation.
Ensure safe and proper use of cleaning and disinfection products, including wearing adequate personal protective equipment and storing products securely away from children.
If a person becomes sick and needs to be transported, establish procedures for safely transporting them. If you are calling an ambulance or bringing someone to a healthcare facility, try to call first to alert them that the person may have COVID-19. Take steps to ensure any external community organizations that share the camp facilities follow this guidance.
Advise Sick People of Home Isolation Recommendations
Sick staff members or campers should not return to camp until they have met CDC’s recommendations to discontinue home isolation. If they have met all the CDC criteria for ending isolation, then no additional testing is needed to return to the facility.
In most instances, those who have had COVID-19 can be around others after 10 days since symptoms first appeared or a positive test, and 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.
Notify Health Officials, Close Contacts and Singing Waters Montana Board Members
In accordance with state and local laws and regulations, camp administrators should notify local health officials, staff, and families immediately of any case of COVID-19 while maintaining confidentiality in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
Work closely with local health officials to conduct contact tracing to identify people who might have been exposed to COVID-19.
Advise those who have had close contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19 to quarantine, self-monitor for symptoms, and follow CDC guidance if symptoms develop. Fully vaccinated people who are asymptomatic can refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure.