Flu shuts down Camp Sabra for a week

Just days after arriving at Camp Sabra in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., some campers and staff began coming down with flulike symptoms. And by Monday, when the Missouri Department of Health confirmed two cases of so-called swine flu, officials had already made the decision to suspend camp for a week and send everyone home.

Margaret Schatz, director of marketing and communications for Camp Sabra, which is operated by the St. Louis Jewish Community Center, said it was a “difficult decision” to make, and the first time she can remember that Sabra has had to close early. It had 350 campers and staffers this summer.

“The kids are disappointed, but Camp Sabra takes the safety, health and wellness of its campers as its first priority,” Schatz said.
The camp session was to have lasted from June 14 to July 9. Instead, children began returning home Tuesday on busses. None was sent home with a fever.

While on the busses, those who had been ill were kept separate from those who had had no symptoms. Schatz said by Wednesday afternoon, everyone was expected to be home.

Because other summer camps had already dealt with symptoms of the H1N1 virus, Sabra officials had contacted the state and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for guidelines and followed the appropriate testing procedures. They isolated and quarantined those children who were ill, housing as many as they could in the infirmary and others in the recreation center.

The good news is that all the flu sufferers had mild symptoms, Schatz said, lasting 24 to 36 hours. No one had to be hospitalized.
The camp will be closed for one week, then reopen on June 30 for those who want to return. Schatz said the CDC tells her the H1N1 virus can live on surfaces for about 48 hours.

“So at this time we’re going to suspend operations for about five days, giving more than the 48-hour window, at which time we will come back and do a thorough cleaning and scrubbing of the camp with what I imagine will be chlorine and bleach chemicals,” Schatz said.

‘Kids were dropping like flies.’
Parents said that nurses, Director Terri Grossman and other Camp Sabra officials kept them well informed throughout the ordeal.
Dawn Minkoff’s 12-year-old daughter, Megan, became ill on Wednesday, June 17. Dawn Minkoff said Megan was the fourth girl in her cabin to fall ill.

“She threw up, had a really high fever and her throat was really sore,” Dawn Minkoff said. “They didn’t send her to the hospital because they didn’t realize the first two girls who were tested had false-negative readings for the flu. … But we definitely felt (Megan) was getting the care she needed.” Megan was put on antibiotics.

Lori Gilgus’s daughter, Hannah, 13, e-mailed her mother the day after arriving at camp, saying that one of her cabin mates had thrown up. Lori Gilgus just thought the girl was homesick.

“But it was like a progression; information kept leaking down to us,” Lori Gilgus said. “We got an e-mail from Hannah that said ‘six out of the nine of us are sick.’ Then Thursday, I got a call that she had a temperature and they were isolating kids with temperatures.”

Hannah’s fever broke on Friday, June 19, and 24 hours later she returned to her cabin. But by that time, some campers had already been sent home.

“Kids were just dropping like flies; it really spread like wildfire,” said Debbie Bennett, whose daughter, Mikki, 16, was a junior counselor.

Return to Sabra?
At this point, parents are not sure if their children will return to camp.

“Everything is up in the air as far as kids wanting to go back,” Dawn Minkoff said. “I really think it depends on who’s going back. The whole point of camp is being with your friends. Some kids won’t be able to go back because they’re just now getting (the flu). There are a lot of unknowns. We’re leaving it up to Megan. She said until she knows if her friends are going back, she’s going to play it by ear.”

Lori Gilgus said her daughter, Hannah, loves camp, but if Hannah’s friends aren’t going back, Hannah might not, either.

“Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen. Some of the moms I’ve talked to said their kids are really upset and distraught, but Hannah’s a pretty upbeat person,” Lori Gilgus said. “She had been packing for a month and counting it down to the minute, so it is a disappointment.”

Many of the questions parents are asking were addressed in an e-mail sent out Tuesday by the camp director, Grossman. Some want to know if there will be a refund for the suspension period.

“We will send all families our refund policy once campers are home safe and sound,” the e-mail states. “We apologize for this delay but are working first to address the safety of our campers.”

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