NORTHERN GEORGIA -- Three children at a Jewish sleep-away camp in Georgia have tested positive for swine flu, officials said today.
The three are part of a group of 60 campers who were placed in isolation at Camp Ramah Darom, in the mountains of north Georgia. The first --and only-- three who were tested came back positive, spokeswoman Andrea Proser said today.
Georgia health officials said one child from the camp was briefly hospitalized and discharged. No additional information on the three children was available.
So far there are about 18,000 confirmed and probable cases of H1N1, a worldwide pandemic, in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forty-five Americans have died. The first Florida casualty was a 9-year-old Miami boy who died on June 9.
Camp Ramah Darom, a popular destination for children from South Florida, is not closing, Proser said. The sick campers have been placed in a separate, isolated area dubbed Camp Wellness.
An outbreak of illness at a second popular Jewish sleep-away facility,Camp Coleman in Cleveland, Ga., prompted officials on Wednesday night to cancel its first summer session, affecting 400 children.
Mild flu-like symptoms hit about 45 of the 160 staff members over the past week, according to Rabbi Elliott Kleinman, the camp spokesman.
"Camp Coleman and the Union for Reform Judaism apologize to the campers and their families for any inconvenience," he said. "Because the well-being of the children is of paramount concern, the Union for Reform Judaism and camp management and staff have made this regrettable but necessary decision."
Linda Weiss, of Boca Raton, was planning to send her daughter Lexi, 14, to both summer sessions at Camp Coleman.
She said camp officials called parents late Saturday night, the day before the session was to start, to announce an indefinite delay because staffers who showed up early were ill. They e-mailed parents Wednesday to say the first session was canceled.
Weiss said Lexi "is crushed. It's summer and she's bored. But in light of the information they shared with us, it's a reasonable decision. I'd rather not put my child's health at risk."
Rabbi Mark Gross of Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs said 37 children from the synagogue were signed up for Camp Coleman, two of them for the first session.
"It's a really sad thing," he said. "Congregational rabbis are deeply committed to the camp experience as an invaluable educational and community-building experience. For those hundreds of kids to miss out, it's really sad."
Jolie Reisner, 12, of Hollywood, is at Camp Ramah and her father, Neil Reisner, is getting daily e-mail updates.
Reisner said parents have been assured that children with symptoms are being sent to the infirmary immediately.
"When they're feeling better they go to an area of camp where they haveno contact with other kids and stay a week from the day they start showing symptoms," he said.
"The neat thing is that the kids in isolation are getting a full camp program--sports, crafts, they even took a hike yesterday," he said."So, as parents, we've got no complaints and are perfectly comfortable leaving Jolie there. We told her she probably shouldn't do a lot of hugging and we were going to send her a stock of Purell, but camp is doing all the Purell-ing she needs.
"If nothing else, come fall, it'll make for some really interesting 'What I did last summer' essays," he said.
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