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Parents' demand for summer camp spikes after a year in lockdown

09 March 2021
 Dan Ackermann

A rush of summer overnight camps are reopening this year in states like Maine, Massachusetts and New York.

Why it matters: Parents say their kids deserve "a glimpse of normal life" after a year in lockdown, while camps are getting ready to open as fully as they can because "campers and staff need this experience,” American Camp Association CEO Tom Rosenberg told AP.

  • But the danger of a fourth wave looms if Americans let their guard down too soon. Some states are lifting coronavirus restrictions as vaccinations in the U.S. continue to reach new records.

The big picture: At least 45 states plan to let overnight camps reopen this summer, compared to 39 states in 2020, the AP reports.

What they're saying: “Given all that kids have gone through, it’s an amazing opportunity for them that gives them a glimpse of normal life in a world that’s far from normal,” Elisabeth Mischel, of Short Hills, New Jersey told AP. She is sending her two boys, 11 and 13, to Maine.

One level deeper: In the latest annual survey published by the American Camp Association in February, directors said they faced "external pressures to reopen and do what we've always done" in the face of the pandemic.

Camps that reopened last summer were mostly successful through grouping kids into cohorts, requiring masks and hand washing, and enforcing social distancing — but there were still outbreaks.

What to watch: Parents are scrambling to grab in-demand spots while some states have yet to detail reopening guidelines.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.