94 COVID cases have been linked to Fresno County Christian camp. Here’s how many kids
Fresno County health officials have connected 94 cases of COVID-19 to Hume Lake Christian Camp staffers and visitors so far this summer.
That breaks down to 51 staffers and 43 campers through Aug. 13. Still, it was not clear Tuesday how many of them contracted COVID during their actual stay at the camp, which about 55 miles northeast of Reedley, according to the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
The cases were confirmed during “pre-entry or weekly testing,” health officials said.
Hume Lake representatives voluntarily closed the camp for the first two weeks of August, which would have been the ninth and 10th weeks of the summer session.
“This decision was made out of the abundance of caution for the health and safety of campers and staff,” the health department said.
A pastor who took a group to the camp previously estimated as many as 30 people were infected. The health department’s numbers show the infection may have been at least three times as large.
Hume Lake officials declined to comment on the latest tally.
A representative for the Hume Lake organization — which also runs camps in San Bernardino County, San Diego and in Massachusetts — previously said the camp in Fresno County hosts about 2,000 campers in a given week, with facilities and activities spread out over 365 acres.
Concerns about COVID-19 cases at the camp arose in July after a San Francisco television station reported that at least three Bay Area children who were there tested positive for the virus and were sent home early to minimize exposure of other campers.
The infections came as the Delta variant has surged in many places including Fresno County.
New cases continued to surge locally, with 326 new cases reported Monday. That’s 109,382 total COVID-19 cases reported since the pandemic began.
By comparison, there were 418 new cases in Fresno County on Sunday. There have been 1,753 fatal cases of COVID-19 in the county.
Fresno’s City Council announced the closure of its chambers in a statement Monday, saying the decision “was made out of abundance of caution due to the current local spread of the Delta variant.”
Fresno County’s top health official said last week that county leaders should consider following hospital chiefs and other leaders who have begun to require vaccinations for many of their employees.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 4:07 PM.
