Crofton鈥檚 Camp Qwanoes is back in operation, but only for day camp rather than overnight stays after several children and staff members tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

鈥淪taff are very excited to have one more opportunity to have campers here starting Monday morning,鈥� noted Scott Bayley, Camp Qwanoes executive director.

鈥淲e are going to run a reduced-in-size day camp this week starting Monday morning. We wanted to give overnight campers who just had their camp cancelled to have a chance to come before summer ended.鈥�

About 250 children arrived at Camp Qwanoes Aug. 15 for a week-long overnight camp. Bayley noted the following Saturday he became aware of one camper who had been there during the week and tested positive for COVID.

In all, more than 20 campers were infected and about a dozen more among the 174 staff members and leadership students during that week. All were believed to have experienced mild symptoms.

Last week鈥檚 camp was cancelled as a result, but the site was cleared for reopening this week for daytime operations only.

鈥淥ur Island medical health office is in support,鈥� Bayley indicated.

He added in 2020 Camp Qwanoes ran 10 straight day camps for more than 1,200 campers without any sign of COVID.

鈥淚n 2021, we have run seven overnight camps, seven day camps, five SeaQuest overnight kayak adventure camps, six overnight youth leadership programs for well over 2,200 campers. The first COVID case was last week.鈥�

This week鈥檚 camp is the summer season finale prior to Labour Day weekend and kids returning to school.

鈥淲e have greatly appreciated people鈥檚 encouragement and support,鈥� Bayley noted.

鈥淩ight from the start our goal was to do all we could to help children and youth in what has been a very difficult one and a half years for them.鈥�