During this time, ICF Ambassadors have been in regular communication with Pablo Casas – ICF Board Member (Ambassador Attaché). These reports reflect the scope of the current pandemic across camp communities in a number of countries. These reports have been summarized from those received in the last 96 hours.
Turkey: All schools closed yesterday for 2 weeks but it will extend at least 1-2 more weeks. All events, tournaments, conventions are cancelled until April. People are asked to stay at home and don’t interact. Government and private schools will run their internet classes.
The economy is terrible as never been in the last 30 years. Many companies, malls, restaurants are expected to bankrupt.
At Camp, we typically recruit 20-30 campers a day at this time but this week there were no calls. We don’t expect new campers in the next 2 weeks. We hope it will pass by mid-April or May but will be difficult to recover the losses. We have established a team to run our new social media program to keep the children connected during their time at home.
So, briefly the situation is not nice for us. The pessimist thinking would have said “We won’t survive until 2021”. But we are fighters and will find a way to survive. During these times it is important to be in touch and share the ideas and also practices.
Pakistan: Hi, Situation here in Pakistan is not that critical as it is in many countries around us. So far 21 infection cases are reported and all are first carriers as they had recently arrived from one or the other country severely hit by the COVID. So as of now, transmission has not begun here.
However, in order to contain it, the government is taking some extreme steps. Educational institutions have been closed till 31 May.
Pakistan Sports Board has put an embargo on all sporting events. All sports facilities are also closed across countries. The outdoor industry is virtually grounded because of concerns developed among parents due to these restrictions.
Peru: Hi! In Peru, 39 cases so far, most of them in Lima, where we were running camps. Educational institutions will be closed for a couple of weeks more. Hopefully no more than that. We had to cancel few camps but we are working virtually empowering sessions with a group of campers. Hoping for the best!
Togo: In my country Togo just one person coming from abroad but until this time she has recovered. Activities are well here in my country Togo
Mexico: Here in Mexico, we have around 30 confirmed cases, most of them in our capital, Mexico City, in which case some schools, colleges and government offices are closing and in the case of our industry some cancelations and some re-scheduling.
All members of our Camp Association we are making some adjustments and taking important measurements to prevent the spread in case we have some infected campers. As a country we still are in Phase 1, that means to prevent, no order of closing schools so far, we really hope and pray to stay that way…
Moscow: Good day to all in our country today 59 recorded cases. They are mainly in the capital. Unfortunately, there are isolated cases in other cities.
In St. Petersburg and Moscow, a special regime of restrictions has been introduced, which provides for the abolition of many sports competitions, restricts the holding of public events and some schools are closing.
In two weeks the spring shifts from the camps begin. While we are getting ready for work and no restrictions have been introduced but unfortunately the All-Russian conference of organizers of children’s camps on March 27-28 in St. Petersburg was cancelled. This is a significant event and we regret this loss of sharing.
Italy: Hi friends, thanks for asking, as today in Italy we have 21,157 people infected by CoVid and unfortunately 1.441 deaths.
North Italy is most affected, but all over Italy we cannot go out only to get food and medication. This will help to NOT spread the virus I live in Rome the capital and we have 250 cases.
Today (15 March) in North Italy we had 280 deaths , non only old people , stay safe at home! this is the bullettin from world health organization:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/685d0ace521648f8a5beeeee1b9125cd
Hong Kong: In Hong Kong, to 14 March, we have 141 confirmed cases with 2 deaths. All classes are suspended in primary and secondary schools from 25 January until 13 April. The Education Bureau may extend the suspension if the outbreak of virus continues. The universities are operating without face to face lectures until the end of this semester.
Despite of emergency service, ALL civil servants have been working from home from end of January until the end of February, many social service and commercial companies follow such arrangement. The society falls into a semi-stagnant condition during that period to avoid further spreading of virus in the community.
Starting from March, most people start to work as normal again but in flexible office hour to avoid crowd during peak travel hours
For camps, we have around 70 in Hong Kong and nearly ALL have closed from Late January until the end of March. Camps which operate by government have been work as quarantine centres. 1 private camp has been used for quarantine centre and a few more have been standby for such use.
It is expected that nearly all camp programs will be stopped or need to be re-scheduled for the first half of 2020. Our summer camps are affected as Education Bureau just announced that the summer term will be shortened this year, if classes resume normally in mid-April. Hopefully camp activities could resume normally in the latter half of 2020.
Malaysia: 480 positive cases in Malaysia with 7 patients in the intensive care unit. 47 patients have thus far recovered. Cases mostly have emerged from religious gatherings.
Venezuela: This past week I was at the ACA’s TriState Conference in Atlantic City. I was scheduled as a speaker there and decided to attend since there were almost no cases in Venezuela or the US at the time of my trip. I barely made it back home yesterday.
Here in Venezuela there are also a lot of measures being taken but having the health and political crisis we are currently suffering, things here are a mix of uncertainty where not even doctors nor politicians have any idea how many cases there truly are. And in the event of an outbreak our already precarious health system would rapidly collapse…
Panama: Here in Panama we 57 cases 1 death and 23 waiting for the analysis. All of them in the city where the majority of the camps are. We are posting games to play at home in our social media and advice to follow as preventive actions. Keep in touch for digital ideas by ICF connect
Australia: Hi all, Australia has 200 cases and building. Government has announced no school camps or excursions, restricted travel along with no gatherings above 500 people, schools most likely to be closed this week, sporting events closed or no fans. Stay safe
Brazil: In Brazil so far we know of 176 real cases. There are around 2000 suspicious cases and we already have a surviving patient. Most affected people are elders with respiratory issues.
Otherwise, we are being advised to treat the outbreak as an aggressive flu with high percentage of contamination. Businesses are suffering all around the country and our camps are no exception, unfortunately. People are treating it as I have never seen….measles became a problem in Brazil due to South American immigration last year and we have yet to control it….H1N1 flu is also a problem and it kills a lot in Brazil however people do not take the free vaccine offered every year.
Camps are suffering, schools cancelled their events, want 100% money back, people are losing their jobs in the tourism area in general… There is also the fact that because Brazil is a warm country the outbreak should not be so violent as it is to colder places. I am not sure what is true or not I just really sad of the outcomes of this situation in general.