Scout sent home after testing positive at Summit Bechtel Reserve

GLEN JEAN, WV (WOAY) – A spokesperson with the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean has confirmed that a scout has been sent home after testing positive for COVID-19 during summer programming.

The scout’s unit tested negative but all were sent home.

The family first alerted the camp once they tested positive back at the scout’s home thus prompting his test at camp despite being asymptomatic.

SBR released the following information:

“We can confirm that a Scout who participated in summer programming at the Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR) this week tested positive for COVID-19. The Scout’s parents alerted us on Wednesday that members of their family had just tested positive for the virus. Based on our extensive guidelines and ongoing coordination with local health officials, we immediately took the Scout for testing and quarantined staff members and fellow participants with whom the Scout interacted.

The Scout, who remains asymptomatic, tested positive for COVID-19 and was taken home from SBR by his parents. All members of the Scout’s unit tested negative but were sent home to quarantine out of an abundance of caution. Other individuals who were possibly in close contact with the Scout were quarantined on-site while arrangements were made for them to continue quarantine at their home. 

Safety is integral to everything we do, and the Summit Bechtel Reserve places great importance on planning and preparing so we can create the safest environment possible for our participants, volunteers and employees. In preparation for the 2020 season, the Summit Bechtel Reserve added new layers of preventative measures and embedded additional health and safety procedures throughout our operation based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Health Services, the governor, and the Fayette County Health Department. These measures were implemented by and remain under the supervision of our full-time on-site health and safety director. 

The precautions include:

• A five-day pre-arrival self-evaluation to screen for potential symptoms related to COVID-19 
• A pre-arrival health and safety video briefing for participants
• Attendees are directed to minimize stops while traveling to and from the facility to only what is absolutely necessary and asked to pack meals from home to further minimize contact with anyone outside of their group
• Group sizes are limited to 25 people who are from the same area, have traveled together, will camp together, and will leave together
• All persons entering the SBR receive a temperature check before entry and every day while on the property 
• Frequent deep cleaning and sanitization of camp facilities
• Updated meal procedures that minimize contact 
• Hourly breaks for hand washing or hand sanitizing 
• Integrated social distancing, including one-person tents spaced 10-feet apart
• A requirement that a face covering be worn for activities that do not allow for appropriate social distancing 

No safeguard or procedure can completely eliminate risk, but these expert-informed measures enable us to provide the safest environment possible for our participants, staff members and our community.

A full list of our health and safety procedures related to COVID-19 is available at  www.summitbsa.org/newnormal.”