our covid-19 policies and protocols FAQ

Are your covid-19 policies current? Statement as of December, 2024:

While we have lifted most other covid precautions, we plan to make our covid vaccine requirements permanent. This means that all staff, interns and volunteers are required to be fully vaccinated against covid. Campers in any all -day camps will also be required to be fully vaccinated against covid, though we do accept medical waivers. These are permanent requirements. Kestrel has always required and checked vaccines for all our campers, in accordance with state laws. We believe it is important to add the covid vaccine to our list of vaccines required to attend our camps.

While the pandemic is in recession, covid is now a permanent health concern, one that can be substantially mitigated with a vaccine. As a science organization, we make our decisions based on the best available science. It is important to us to do what we can do protect the health of children who are in our care. According to statistics summarized by the American Academy of Pediatrics, covid continues to represent a non-negligible risk to children, and vaccines provide a very high level of protection against long term harm from the disease. Against spread, vaccination provides a modest amount of protection, and any amount of reduction in spread is valuable when it can be accomplished with minimal disruption. The ongoing studies show that children are also at much higher risk from covid than from any side effects from the vaccine, so we believe it is very important that children be vaccinated. Because we care about the health of all the children in our care, and it is our responsibility to respond to available science to keep them safe, we are keeping our vaccine requirement in place. We will accept limited waiver requests, for medical reasons only

What precautions do you take against covid-19 spread?

All our staff and program volunteers are fully vaccinated, and we have a strict policy on returning to work after any infectious illness. Our staff do not return to work until symptoms mostly resolve AND they test negative.

Do you require vaccines for students or campers?

Yes, for all -day camps. This requirement is permanent.

Will you change your policies now that the state and towns have rolled back vaccine and mask requirements?

We intend to keep our vaccine requirement in place.