Hundreds of kids exposed to COVID-19 at Dallas-Fort Worth church camp, parents say
This story has been updated to include statements from Fellowship Church and Keystone Church.
Hundreds of children may have been exposed to coronavirus at a church camp over the past month near Dallas-Fort Worth, according to parents of campers.
Fellowship Church in Grapevine hosted multiple Christian away camps at their retreat center, Allaso Ranch, located about 85 miles east of Dallas in Hawkins. Camps for various age groups started on June 13 and run weekly until July 24. Photos from the camp show hundreds of people gathered in tight groups and not wearing face masks.
At least three parents posted publicly on Facebook that their children tested positive for coronavirus after attending the camp in the past two weeks. One of the children was hospitalized.
Wednesday evening, a Fellowship Church spokesman sent a statement via email in response to Star-Telegram questions. He wrote the church followed Centers for Disease Control guidelines and called parents if a camper had symptoms or was in close contact with someone who did.
“This summer, Fellowship Church held several life-changing weeks of camp for kids and students,” the spokesman said via email. “We believe that the church partnering with parents is essential to the success of children.”
The church did not answer questions about how many children tested positive for the virus or how many people were sent home with symptoms.
Recently, parents said children at a separate four-day camp hosted by a Keller church also tested positive for coronavirus after attending, NBC DFW reported.
No masks, social distancing
One woman, who asked her name not be published for legal reasons, said her daughter volunteered at and attended the Allaso Ranch camp for two weeks from July 5 to July 18. When the daughter came home, she had symptoms of COVID-19 and had to go to the emergency room. She tested positive for the virus.
The woman, who lives in Fort Worth, said about 200 to 300 kids attended camp the first week she was there, and at least 140 were at camp last week. Her daughter said the only people at camp who wore masks or gloves were the women serving food.
She said through talking to other parents and campers, she’s heard at least 80 children tested positive for the virus.
Another woman, who is from Keller, said her son tested positive for coronavirus, although he was not showing major symptoms. She asked that her name not be used because she has already faced retaliation for posting publicly on Facebook about the camp not requiring masks or social distancing.
The Keller mom shared photos with the Star-Telegram from the camp of hundreds of people gathered together, mask-less, at a concert and posing for group photos. Another photo showed dozens of kids side by side walking into a building.
“That for me was the photo where the hair on the back of your neck stands up,” she said. “They were being escorted into the mess hall, hundreds of kids packed in with no masks.”
She said at first, she was happy to see her son able to socialize and have fun after months of quarantine. She had wrestled with the idea of him attending the camp, especially because the family does not attend Fellowship Church. She kept hoping the church would cancel the camp, but the night before he was supposed to go, she begrudgingly helped him pack.
“We all make calculated risks. We still have to live,” she said. “Everything is a calculated risk whether you go to the store or let your kid play sports. How are we going to defend not letting him go to camp when he’s playing baseball and going to work every day?”
She said the camp, which cost $300 to $400 to attend, gave parents a false sense of security by taking all the campers’ temperatures and telling them to bring their masks. While the campers wore their masks for the 3 1/2-hour bus ride, they were allowed to take them off as soon as they got to Allaso Ranch, she said.
The church leaders also took all the kids’ phones, so she could not communicate with her son while he was there, she said.
Church response
On Saturday, the woman’s son came back from camp and told her a counselor in his room had gone home early with a 100.4 fever. She immediately arranged for a coronavirus test on Sunday, which came back positive — even though he had a 98.6 degree temperature.
On Saturday night, a church leader called the woman and left her a voicemail. The woman shared the voicemail with the Star-Telegram.
“We just want to make sure you had an incredible time at Allaso Ranch,” the man, who identifies himself as a pastor at Fellowship Church, says in the voicemail.
He goes on to say the church “followed every single procedure, actually gone above and beyond that, and anybody who may have exhibited any symptoms of anything — headache, cough, sneezing, whether it be a temperature, anything — we were on top of it.”
He goes on to explain that a counselor in her son’s room at camp had “some mild symptoms” and was sent home as a precaution. He said the church does not know if the counselor tested positive for COVID-19 or not.
Photos from the camp show that leaders did not enforce Centers for Disease Control procedures. People were grouped together indoors and outside, and were not wearing masks.
The woman said while she chose to send her son to camp — a decision she says she now regrets — she wishes the church was more transparent about coronavirus exposure for campers.
“I’m not blaming the church for having the camp, I’m blaming myself for sending him when I knew better,” she said. “But they need to take some ownership of alerting people in the community.”
“I chose to send him, but they need to be transparent. They should have contacted everyone. They should have emailed, called, put it out on Facebook, because these kids are just out in the community going to dance camps and sports and everything.”
On Wednesday morning, another woman posted on the church’s Facebook page that her daughter tested positive for the virus and had a fever.
She said while she understands sending her child to camp was a risk, she thought social distancing would be enforced.
“This was not the case as the end of day praise and worship concert continued each night without modifications of having kids gather in one large mass and not have face masks,” she wrote. “With the amount of kids I’m starting to hear that are Covid-19+ after returning from camp, have you made any efforts to alert any of the families that have attended?”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the post was no longer visible on the church’s Facebook page.
On July 8, the church posted a picture to its Facebook page that showed about a hundred people gathered around a pool. The post garnered about 130 comments, many of them criticizing the lack of social distancing. As of Wednesday afternoon, the comments were no longer visible.
Keller church camp
Over the weekend, several parents said their children tested positive for COVID-19 after going to the Keller Keystone Christian camp from July 6 to July 10, WFAA reported. The camp is in Aquilla, about 60 miles south of Fort Worth.
Rachel Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the city of Keller, said last weekend, officials learned about the positive COVID-19 tests involving children who attended the Keystone Church summer camp.
“This issue came to the city’s attention over the weekend, and we made contact with the church to gather information. However, we were informed Monday evening that Keystone had retained legal counsel on this matter and so unfortunately the city is not able to share information related to their camp at this time,” Reynolds said in an emailed statement.
Steven Goodspeed, an attorney representing the church, emailed a statement on Wednesday night in response to the Star-Telegram’s questions. In the statement, the church said it has been in communication with all Keystone Church camp families during and after camp, as well as with public health officials, including Tarrant County’s Chief Epidemiologist.
“We will continue to work to protect our families and their children from what can sometimes be characterized as a very hostile social media environment,” the statement said. “The families and children involved deserve to have privacy and to be allowed to determine how they, as individual families, want to handle health issues and information related to this matter. “
The church said it will continue to minister to the Keystone Church and community and work with public health authorities.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 5:59 PM.
