LETTER: CDC virus guidelines for kids’ camps are necessary

In his May 27 op-ed, Jacob Sullum notes that, “Three days after the CDC issued its widely ridiculed camp guidelines, (CDC Director) Walensky said ‘less than 10 percent of documented transmission(s), in many studies, have occurred outdoors’.” Mr. Sullum builds a case that Ms. Walensky’s statement shows inconsistency at the CDC.

The trouble: Much of what happens in summer camp is the exact antithesis of what “outdoors” means to most people. Overnight “campers” are usually crowded into communal sleeping quarters with poor ventilation and are encouraged to shout and sing in groups. This is not the same as going for hikes in sparsely-populated areas.

Please look at the CDC investigation of the Georgia camp last June. Within a short time, 78 percent of the camp attendees tested positive for COVID-19, even though they were all required to have tests 12 days before attending. Children usually have mild initial COVID symptoms, but perhaps 10 percent have long-term effects that may become apparent in test performance this next school year.

Mr. Sullum is playing sophistry games, deliberately confounding meanings of vaguely-defined words.