Melville summer camp plans to follow COVID protocols; won't mandate vaccination for kids

It may only be January, but camp counselors say now is the time for parents to start preparing for sleep-away camps and day camps and looking at what COVID-19 mandates are in place.
Mark Transport, owner of Crestwood Country Day Camp in Melville, says if you're planning to send your kids to a day camp and the camp follows all the recommended COVID safety protocols, it should be left up to parents to decide if their kids get the vaccine.
"We don't think that we're going to personally mandate kids having vaccinations, but that doesn't mean that the state won't do that, and we always abide by whatever the state says," says Transport.
However, for parents planning to send their kids to sleep-away camp Transport says, "It is probably more critical to think about vaccinating everyone because you're trying to create a bubble in a situation where people are living 24/7, they're sleeping next to one another, they're spending much more time indoors."
Transport says for now he and his staff and campers will keep following the current COVID protocols.
"What we've all learned is we don't jump to conclusions and make policies six months before you know a summer occurs," says Transport.