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The health authority ordered anyone who attended the camp between July 13 and 21 to self-isolate and reduce direct contact with family. It remains unclear how many people might be infected in total.
“COVID-19 is a sneaky virus,” Lesage said in an email. “People who are infected, and therefore can transmit the virus, have few or even no symptoms, especially children.”
Quebec’s day camps association says about 15 of its members have seen a limited number of cases since they opened at the end of June. The affected camps are in western Quebec, the Eastern Townships and the Montérégie region.
Anne-Frédérique Morin, the association’s assistant director, said the camps have kept activities outdoors as much as possible, required physical distancing, grouped campers in “bubbles” of four-to-six kids and provided protective equipment for staff.
“We have had no big outbreaks,” Morin said, noting the Boucherville camp is not part of her association.“When those measures are in place, we’re able to intervene and trace cases quickly.”
The Montérégie region has been one of the harder-hit areas in recent weeks, along with Montreal.
Quebec has reported a total of 5,670 COVID-19 deaths and 59,073 confirmed cases of the disease, of which 50,886 are considered recovered. The number of hospitalizations declined by three Wednesday to reach 190. Nine patients are in intensive care, an increase of one.
With files from Catherine Lévesque in Ottawa and Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal
