Evaluation of Safety Measures at a Medical Summer Camp During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: SARS-CoV-2 poses challenges for the safe delivery of a camp experience with a medically complex camper population. Multiple studies have investigated the effect of nonpharmaceutical interventions for preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in traditional summer camp settings, but none in the medical summer camp settings. Our objective was to describe and evaluate the nonpharmaceutical interventions on SARS-CoV-2 transmission rate in a medical summer camp setting. METHODS: This was a single-institution cross-sectional study conducted between June 2021 and August 2021 in a rural summer camp setting in upstate New York. Nonpharmaceutical interventions consisted of prearrival guidance on low-risk activities, obtaining negative SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction results within 72 h prior to arrival, adult SARS-CoV-2 vaccine mandate, universal masking mandate, small cohorts, daily symptom screening, and rapid testing on site. Primary cases were defined as an individual with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result of any type while at camp or 2 wk after departure from camp without any known exposure at camp; secondary cases were defined as cases from potential exposures within camp. RESULTS: Two hundred and ninety-three campers were included. Nine individuals were tested owing to potentially infectious symptoms while at camp. Thirty-four campers were tested because they arrived from a county with an a priori intermediate level of SARS-CoV-2 community spread. Zero on-site rapid tests were positive for SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSIONS: We describe the implementation of multilayered nonpharmaceutical interventions at a medical summer camp during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Impact of COVID-19 on Respiratory Admissions in a Tertiary Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Background Pediatric inpatient admissions for viral respiratory infections decreased worldwide during the early part of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This was likely due to social distancing measures and mask mandates leading to a decreased spread of viruses. We question if there was an increase in respiratory admissions during the winter of 2020-2021 due to the overlap of seasonal respiratory viruses and COVID-19 and the severity of those admissions. Methods We performed a single-center retrospective chart review of all respiratory admissions to our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from October to April during the years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, and 2020-2021. We compared the total number of respiratory admissions from different viruses and respiratory admissions by diagnoses among those time periods. Second, we compared the PICU length of stay and duration of mechanical ventilation (both invasive and non-invasive) for these respiratory admissions during those years. Results We saw a drastic decrease in the total respiratory admissions to the PICU in 2020-2021 compared to the same period of time in the last two years. The greatest contributor to this decrease was admissions secondary to bronchiolitis. We noticed a statistically significant decrease in both asthma (p<0.001) and chronic respiratory failure admissions (p=0.0029) during the pandemic winter compared to previous winters. Although, the total number of all respiratory viral admissions is not significant, admissions specific to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (p<0.0001), rhino-enterovirus (p<0.0001), and multi-virus (p=0.0016), achieved statistical significance. There was no statistical difference between the PICU length of stay and duration of mechanical ventilation during the three years. Conclusion Despite a decrease in pediatric respiratory admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the severity of illness based on length of stay in the PICU and length of time on respiratory support remains unchanged compared to the previous two years.