Swine flu case has parents of campers worried

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By: NBC News on 2009-06-22
NBC News

Florida’s Broward County Health Department is issuing a reminder for summer camps to use precaution and watch for flu symptoms after a confirmed case of swine flu at a church camp.

Some believe those who run the church camp tried to keep it quiet, an allegation the church denies.

Information packets on swine flu were handed out to parents as they picked up their campers on Thursday, along with a letter notifying them of the confirmed case.

Gia Mote, the mother of the child who contracted swine flu, says she told the church camp the previous week at least two kids had Inlfuenza A, and told the camp Wednesday morning her child had swine flu.

Christ Church Camp waited a day and a half to notify parents.

Some of them now feel the camp did so only after calls from reporters and several angry parents.

County health inspectors visited the church on Friday.

Church staff sterilized the facility.

Camp administrators wouldn’t speak on camera.

The director of the camp, Lauren Buschmann, said in the letter to parents “The safety and well-being of children entrusted to our care is of highest priority…If you have any concern about your child’s health being compromised through participation in summer camp or vacation bible study school, please feel free to remove them from participation.“

What happened at the Florida camp is not an isolated incident.

Boy Scouts from Palm Beach County were among the 19 who got sent home from Camp Daniel Boone in Asheville, North Carolina after showing swine flu symptoms, and a camp in Georgia delayed its start by a day because of swine flu outbreak.

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