CDC Announces New Guidelines for Summer Camp 0:46
(CNN) -
New data from a case study released Tuesday offers another cautionary tale about the importance of vaccination and COVID-19 testing at large face-to-face gatherings.
In August, 180 cases of Covid-19 had been detected at a five-day religious camp for teenagers and at a two-day men's conference, both held in June.
Five people were hospitalized.
The investigation, conducted by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that neither camp took pandemic precautions.
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The church camp lasted four days in mid-June.
On June 13, 294 campers from Illinois, Iowa and Missouri arrived at the sleeping camp in western Illinois, where they were cared for by 41 staff members.
The campers lived in large groups, ate together, and participated in multiple group activities.
No proof of vaccination against covid-19 was required to attend the camp.
The research, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, notes that "the list of suggested items to bring to camp did not include masks."
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The first camper tested positive for COVID-19 on June 16, after leaving camp with a fever and respiratory symptoms.
By August 13, 87 camp attendees had tested positive for COVID-19.
Six members of the camp staff who would later test positive attended a two-day men's conference organized by the same religious group at a different location.
As in the camp, the conference did not require vaccination, negative tests, or the use of masks.
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Of the 500 attendees and 30 members of the conference staff, 35 people tested positive for COVID-19.
The effects of the two events extended beyond the attendees.
Nearly a third of all conference and camp-related cases were secondary infections, meaning they were a close contact of someone who attended either event.
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The researchers determined that 1,127 people were exposed to the virus through these two events, in 18 counties in four states.
In Adams County, Illinois, where the events occurred, there was a 68% increase in the mean number of new cases per day in the week after the last secondary case was found, compared to the week before the event.
Researchers at the CDC determined that the outbreak was largely, though not completely, related to the delta variant of the coronavirus.
The delta variant accounted for 87% of all sequenced viruses from the outbreak, and the alpha variant was identified in 10% of the sequenced samples, they reported.
In the eight sequenced samples of vaccinated people, seven were of the delta variant and one of the alpha variant.
The diversity of variants present, according to the researchers, probably indicates that there were multiple "SARS-CoV-2 introductions" into the camp, rather than a single infection that triggered all infections.
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"In this research, the majority of reported COVID-19 cases were identified among unvaccinated people. However, it is likely that there was a transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from vaccinated people to vaccinated and unvaccinated people," they wrote. researchers.
The results of this research add even more evidence about the need for vaccinations, testing and other mitigation measures, especially as the more transmissible delta variant spreads.
This work also sheds more light on the spread in the camps, the researchers said.
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"As of August 7, COVID-19 outbreaks had been reported in at least 21 camps in Illinois, reinforcing the importance of COVID-19 prevention measures in these camps, including identifying infected people through programs. of screening tests prior to arrival and the systematic application of other preventive measures, such as vaccination, the use of masks and physical distancing ".
Covid-19 Illinois