City of Myrtle Beach cancels summer camps after positive COVID-19 tests

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The city of Myrtle Beach is canceling summer day camps due to recent COVID-19 concerns.

City spokesman Mark Kruea said camps at Pepper Geddings Recreation Center and Mary C. Canty Recreation Center are both canceled. He added a camp counselor tested positive for the virus, which prompted the city’s decision. He added it’s not officially known which camp had the counselor with the positive case, so both centers will be shutting down.

Four children also recently missed days due to positive tests in their homes, according to Kruea.

Parents are also being notified of the changes.

Local parent Dawn Harris Roblero said she feels for the parents who sent their children to camp, only for them not to continue.

She also said she just wants her own six-year-old son to be able to socialize.

“To be around other kids, some of my mom friends aren’t doing playdates,” she said. “The park was closed for so long, just to be around other kids, he missed out on half of that with kindergarten because school got canceled, you know and kindergarten is like their prime year for social skills.”

This comes after Horry County and the City of Conway each canceled their own summer camps after employees tested positive for the virus.

The Claire Chapin Epps Family YMCA in Myrtle Beach said its camps will continue, and they do not have any confirmed cases of COVID-19.

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