Coronavirus infection found in Czech children’s camp, kids and staff now in quarantine

There has been a case of coronavirus in a children’s camp in the Czech Republic’s Plzeň region.

The COVID-19 infection appeared in one of the children attending the camp near the village of Letiny on July 9, two days before the scheduled end of the first two-week session. The tests of all other children and staff were negative. The child who tested positive did not show symptoms.

The infected child immediately went into isolation and started tracing her contacts. At the same time all participants in the camp were tested. The camp had approximately 80 children and 20 staff.

The children and staff have been sent home and are now waiting in quarantine for the results of a second test. The infected child most likely brought the virus from one of their parents in another region of the Czech Republic, according to Michal Bartoš of the Plzeň Regional Hygiene Station .

“There was one positive participant, all others had negative tests for COVID-19. It was an import of the disease from another region,” Bartoš told daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD). The testing was done when the Plzeň Regional Hygiene Station received information that the father of a female camper had comedown with COVID-19.

The entire area of the camp has been decontaminated and disinfected.

Iva Páleníčková, a representative of Středisko Letiny where the camp takes place, is downplaying the event. She told new server Seznam.cz that they had “the wrong information,” but declined to clarify what aspects were wrong. The same representative told MfD that the first camping session ended on schedule on July 11 after two weeks, and a new session has started. She declined to comment on news about a COVID-19 infection. She also told daily Právo”  “It’s unsubstantiated information, I don’t want you to write about it.”

Letiny Mayor Jaroslav Vraný told Seznam.cz that he had not been informed of the incident prior to media reports, and that camps near the village have been held for decades without incident.

The Plzeň Regional Hygiene Station said that no measures were being taken in the village of Letiny, as the campground is isolated from the village. The camp has cottages in the woods and is close to a swimming pool.

Another camp group is already using the site where the infection was found. The association organizing that camp says that the occurrence of COVID-19 has no connection to his group, as the previous camp was organized by someone else, and all of the staff and children from that group are long gone..

The government has allowed summer children’s camps since the end of June under strict hygienic measures set by the Czech Health Ministry against the spread of coronavirus.

Camps with cabins are allowed for a maximum of 500 participants, while with tent camps there is a limit of 100 people. Children should not meet in larger groups. Camps must be adequately equipped with disinfectant, soap and running water. The kitchen staff must have a separate hygienic facility and a place must be reserved in the camp for possible isolation of children with a suspected infection.