Camp BLAST Day Camp Impacted by COVID-19; Program Closed Two Days for Sanitizing Deep Clean
LAKELAND, FL (July 28, 2020) | The City of Lakeland's summer recreational camp program, Camp BLAST, will be closed at the Kelly Recreational Complex location (404 Imperial Boulevard) for two days starting today and will reopen on Thursday, July 30th in order for staff to deep clean the facility due to possible COVID-19 related contact. Camp BLAST is scheduled to end on Friday, July 31st at both Kelly Recreation Complex and Simpson Park locations.
At 7 a.m. this morning (July 28th) a camp counselor that works at the Kelly Recreation Complex location notified supervisors that they received a positive COVID-19 test result. The counselor is asymptomatic and is showing no signs of being infected by the virus. The counselor recently had a physical for an upcoming position and as part of that physical, they were tested for the Coronavirus. The counselor notified supervisors immediately upon receiving the results.
The Camp BLAST facilities at the Kelly Recreation Complex are in the process of being sanitized and will reopen on Thursday for the last two days of the scheduled camp. Bob Donahay, Director of Parks & Recreation said, “I found out this morning and immediately started the process to notify parents, staff, and our cleaning crews so we moved very fast to mitigate the issue. The summer employee showed no signs of being COVID-19 positive and if wasn’t for the recent physical they took for an upcoming job; we would probably never have known.” He added, “I really want to thank the employee for contacting us as soon as they received the message from their health care provider so we could notify parents and start the process of contact tracing and deep cleaning the facility.”
The Simpson Park facility (1725 MLK Jr. Boulevard) is not impacted and will remain open for the last regularly scheduled week of the summer day camp programming. Donahay said, “I am extremely sorry that this happened and I feel for the working parents who now have to scramble to find child care for these next few days but the safety and welfare of our visitors, staff and of course our day camp participants is the most important thing at this time.”
The City of Lakeland encourages the public to follow the CDC recommendations for social distancing and hygiene. The City of Lakeland has developed a dedicated webpage with a number of resources to help the community stay informed. You can find this site by visiting LakelandGov.net/COVID19.
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About Lakeland
The City of Lakeland was incorporated in January 1885 and has grown to become one of the largest inland communities in Florida. With a current population of over 100,000, Lakeland continues to grow. It has been designated a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area by the US Census Bureau for over 30 years. With tourist attractions and gulf beaches only an hour away, Lakeland continues to capitalize on its ideal central Florida location along the I-4 corridor. The City owns and operates Lakeland Electric, the third-largest publicly owned utility in Florida and it was one of the first to offer power in the Sunshine State over 110 years ago.
For additional information about the City of Lakeland, please explore LakelandGov.net.
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