An Illinois church summer camp and men’s conference in June has now been linked to 180 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The camp and conference did not require attendees to be vaccinated, tested or masked, the CDC reported, and the high rate of transmission was likely driven by the delta variant.
The report, published Tuesday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that as of Aug. 13, a five-day overnight summer camp and a two-day men’s conference, both sponsored by a church, led to 180 confirmed and probable cases identified by contact tracers after the two events.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the camp outbreak occurred at the Crossing Camp in Rushville, in central Illinois, roughly 70 miles southwest of Peoria.
Calls to the Crossing Camp went unanswered and they did not immediately respond to a NBC News email requesting comment.
The outbreak was first reported to the CDC by Illinois officials on June 30, the report said.
The June 13-17 summer camp session did not require Covid vaccinations or testing and did not mandate masks, and campers slept in groups of about 100 people in “large, shared boarding facilities.”
Campers were in frequent close contact with small groups of staff and campers for indoor and outdoor activities.
On June 16, a camper left early due to “fever and respiratory symptoms” and then tested positive for coronavirus.
Six of the camp staff members who eventually tested positive left camp to attend the men’s conference at a different location from June 18-19. All six received positive coronavirus test results after the conference ended.
The men’s conference, like the camp, required no vaccines, testing or mask use.
By August 13, the CDC found 87 primary cases linked to the summer camp, and 35 linked to the men’s conference. Through contact tracing, the CDC identified another 58 secondary cases among close contacts of camp or conference attendees.
The study found the attack rate — which the CDC says is “the risk of getting the disease during a specified period, such as the duration of an outbreak” — was 26 percent among campers and staffers, and 7 percent among conference attendees.
Of all 180 cases, 29 cases, or 16.1 percent, occurred in fully vaccinated people, none of whom required hospitalization, the CDC said.
Of the 31 samples that were genetically sequenced, 87 percent were identified as delta variant, 10 percent were identified as the Alpha variant, and 3 percent — just one case — was identified as gamma.
The CDC report warns that the 180 cases are likely an underestimate because they did not have access to camp rosters and not all people participated in contact tracing. Additionally, at-home positive antigen tests were not counted.
