Lee County hosting open houses for summer camps that begin Monday

The clock is ticking to register your kids for summer camp.

Lee County is hosting open houses for locations where camps start on Monday.

All day Thursday, parents have been registering their kids for camp at the North Fort Myers Recreation Center. They say they’re happy their kids will be able to go to camp this year and that the camp is taking precautions to protect everyone against the coronavirus.

Paityn Marquez can’t wait to spend her summer at camp for the very first time.

“I’m most looking forward to the arts and crafts because I love doing arts and crafts. I’m really good at it,” she said.

But as the coronavirus pandemic continues, camp will look a little different.

“It’s feeling good, honestly, but it is a little scary. We’re just hoping that everything works out. It’s kind of like a trial run right now,” said Paityn’s father, Dustie Marquez.

The Lee County Parks and Recreation Department says all of its camps will follow CDC social distancing guidelines like cleaning and disinfecting throughout the day, each camper having their own supplies, since sharing isn’t allowed, having campers stick with their own, smaller groups to play and allow for social distancing.

Counselors and campers can wear masks if they want to, as the CDC says this is optional. All of this ease some concerns for parent James Walker.

“It seems like they’re washing their hands every five minutes, and they used to have 20 kids to one counselor, but they moved it down to 9 to 1, which is good not just because of the virus, but because it’s his first time, gives me more confidence,” he said.

All but one week of camp at the North Fort Myers location is at capacity. The parents we spoke to Thursday say they hope sending their kids to camp will make up for all the time they had to spend inside the last few months.

“Hopefully, it will give her some of that interaction. She’s an only child so hopefully, she can get some of that in there. It’s a little depressing sometimes,” Marquez said.

“I’ll give them something to do through the summer,” Walker said.