Government to screen activity leaders before summer camps as of Saturday

BarcelonaThe Government will screen activity leaders in summer camps, Tv3 has advanced and ACN has confirmed. The first will be made on Saturday and are aimed at monitors who take part in activities involving an overnight stay. The measure was communicated on Thursday at a meeting between the entities of the sector and the Directorate General for Youth. Initially there will be screening for activities with departures until Wednesday, and from next Thursday a second batch will begin for those who leave before Sunday. The Pere Tarrés Foundation and Fundesplai have valued the measure positively because it gives a "plus" to the protocols to which they are already subjected. The first entity has so far detected 17 cases and has 14 groups in isolation, while the second calculates 1% of groups are affected. ARA already reported on Monday that infections among activity leaders, children and teenagers attending camps were causing concern, with businesses regretting workers not having been offered a vaccine.

The screenings will definitely be carried out in Barcelona and Lleida, whereas it is yet to be confirmed whether they will also be carried out in Manresa and Terres de l'Ebre. The sector says tests will be carried out in pharmacies after July 19.

The president of the Movement of Catalan Christian Leisure Centers of the Pere Tarrés Foundation, Xavi Nus, has positively valued the implementation of screenings and stressed the "need" to maintain leisure activities, because they are "necessary" for children and young people, especially after the year of the pandemic: "Just as they have kept schools open, it is now necessary to maintain these activities". For this reason, he has assessed positively the fact that the screening of activity leaders who will work at summer camps, because it will detect asymptomatic cases and avoid possible confinements or contagion.

The spokesman of Fundesplai, Josep Maria Valls, took a similar line. He claimed that leisure activities are safe because the protocols allow both the prevention of cases and containment if any cases are detected. He has also made a positive assessment of the implementation of the screening because "they add" to these protocols.

17 positives and 14 groups in isolation in Tarrés summerschools and 1% affected in Fundesplai's

In the case of Pere Tarrés summer camps, they have detected 17 positives the activities they organise, which have caused 14 groups to be confined. Of the total cases, only four are children and the rest are activity leaders. This is because they are mostly part of age groups where there are currently more cases. Nus has explained that in his case part of the activity leaders were vaccinated because they worked in schools during the year and, as such, were considered key workers. The situation is repeated to Fundesplai, which also organises activities in schools throughout the year.

In this case, and with Wednesday's data, Fundesplai calculates that there is a 1% of children and young people affected either because they caught the virus or have been in close contact with someone who has. This percentage also includes staff. This organisation expects about 68,000 participants throughout the summer season. Valls has valued that the figures fall within what is "expected" taking into account the epidemiological situation in the country, and recalled that it is below the numbers reached at some points in schools.