-per Kirk Bloir, assistant director, Ohio 4-H Youth Development
We are delighted to share that we have received approval for our plans to move forward with conducting both day and overnight 4-H camps this summer. University leadership gave careful consideration to a wide range of factors, including vaccination availability and uptake, mitigation tactics, and a host of impacts on our members, families, volunteers, supporters, facility partners, and our employees. We know our 4-H colleagues have been working on a variety of plans that hinged on this decision and are very appreciative of their time and effort.
We extend appreciation to the 4-H Camping Design Team task force who helped to prepare a comprehensive plan for balancing evidence-based COVID-19 mitigation strategies with providing needed programming for our 4-H youth across the state.
We will continue to monitor conditions across the state and will update guidelines as needed. In other words, if the state and university lift health restrictions because the spread of the virus has slowed, we will all rejoice and follow that guidance. On the other hand, if the virus spread surges and health advisories limiting mass gatherings are reinstated, we would have to move to virtual or cancel the in-person plans.
We appreciate your patience with what we know has been a long process. While some will not agree with this decision, we think we can agree that by offering day camps and overnight camps, we will be able to offer our 4-H youth a positive camping experience this summer.