Principles
Our goal in planning for summer 2022 is to keep Mathcamp's operations as normal as possible while avoiding outbreaks of Covid-19. We chose not to run camp in person in 2020 and in 2021 because we couldn’t ensure access to vaccines for all participants, and we didn’t believe that we were in a position to operate camp safely in a way that would feel like a typical Mathcamp summer: namely, students having full access to freely choosing their classes and socializing with all members of the Mathcamp community (rather than have access only to a small pod at camp).
In 2022, we believe that we can run a dynamic, inclusive, and safe version of Mathcamp in a residential format because we now have:
- Widely available vaccines that provide significant protection against severe disease, bringing the risks associated with Covid-19 at camp into the same order of magnitude as other risks routinely experienced at camp (such as driving from the airport).
- Widely available rapid tests that provide a way to identify infectious individuals and keep them from transmitting the disease.
- A clear understanding of airborne Covid-19 transmission and sound strategies to prevent it. A combination of outdoor spaces, ventilation, high-quality masks, physical distancing, and vaccines have been successfully used to significantly limit transmission in workplaces and classrooms around the world.
For more information on the supporting research, consult the scientific appendix.
In designing our operating procedures for this summer, we aim to keep all participants safe and make the educational and social experience of camp as normal as possible, and to allow individuals the flexibility to increase protections while still maintaining full access to the program.
