These Guidelines are no longer valid.
Dear Lake Erie Council Scouts and Scouters,
Below are current COVID-19 safeguards for the Lake Erie Council as of November 1, 2020 and are subject to revision. These safeguards are in place to mitigate the risk of contracting COVID-19.
1. General
Follow local, state, and federal guidelines as it pertains to participation in activities.
Remember, your chartered organization owns your unit and may have its own policies and requirements in addition to local, state, and federal guidelines. If so, you must adhere to their additional requirements.
Maintain social distancing and limit group sizes to 10 or fewer.
Sanitize the meeting area as well as the equipment used for each activity.
Keep attendance for both youth and adults in the event contact tracing is needed.
Adhere to Youth Protection Policies.
Ensure that hand sanitizer is available and used regularly (either supplied or each person brings their own.)
Encourage frequent handwashing with soap and water.
Additional guidance and resources can be found at https://www.scouting.org/coronavirus
2. COVID-19 Plans
Units should have and share with families their chartered organization approved COVID-19 safety plan.
For guidance, please refer to https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/HealthSafety/pdf/680-693.pdf
3. Face Coverings
Adhere to the state mandate on face coverings FACE COVERINGS.
Again, your chartered organization owns your unit and may have its own policies and requirements in addition to local, state, and federal guidelines. If so, you must adhere to their additional requirements.
4. Welcoming New Members
As new youth are being invited to join our program, there is an exciting new feature on Beascout.org.
For the youth that are joining this fall, the system is automatically collecting fees through the end of 2021.
For those families who need an alternative method for registering, we can still collect paper applications and charge families the pro-rated rate until the end of 2020.
5. Unit Meetings
In-person Scout meetings are permitted for Scouts living in counties at alert levels 1, 2, or 3. If your unit’s county is level 4, in-person Scout meetings are prohibited.
Meeting outdoors is encouraged when available and weather permitting.
If the unit is still not ready to meet, we continue to encourage virtual meetings. All youth protection policies and guidelines for online meetings, including having multiple adults over the age of 21 present the entire time, must be followed.
If both male and female youth are on the same conferencing event, one adult of each gender must also actively participate. As a reminder, make sure youth are never being recorded or filmed.
6. Meals
While many unit activities include the sharing of meals, especially during the holiday season, there continue to be restrictions regarding the sharing of food. It is important that the unit develop dining protocols (including but not limited to):
No self-serve buffet meals or common water coolers.
Use of disposable utensils, napkins, cups, and plates.
Clean and disinfect eating and cooking gear after each use.
When in doubt, the safest answer is for families to bring their own food or to not have any “community or potluck” food at your events for the time being.
Here are some additional suggestions to consider:
Utilize single-serve, prepackaged foods.
If the unit wants to do a “community meal”, pick a person to take or find a person who has ServSafe training.
https://www.servsafe.com/ServSafe-Food-Handler/Get-Certified
The ServSafe trained person can cook and coordinate the distribution of the food.
Choose a caterer or restaurant that could provide the meals and separate the servings appropriately.
If commercial food is offered, make sure that the food is not repackaged by the unit.
7. Camping
LEC’s full camping safeguards including the temperature and prescreening questionnaire can be found here: https://lecbsa.org/news/2020/7/30/weekend-camping-procedures
Reservations can be made here: https://lecbsa.org/weekend-camping
Here are some updates, highlights, and reminders:
Weekend camping is limited to BSA properties operating under a resident camp license from their local health department.
This means that units can camp at either Firelands, Beaumont, or any other BSA resident camp property that has been given permission to operate by their local health department.
At the present time, there are no procedures for units to camp on non-BSA resident camp properties. This includes non-campground facilities such as private property and property owned by the chartered organization.
Camping and activities are permitted for Scouts living in counties at alert levels 1, 2, or 3.
If your unit’s county is level 4, participating in camping and activities at a Lake Erie Council camp is prohibited.
If Lorain (Firelands) or Ashtabula (Beaumont) County are at a level 4 alert level, each respective camp will be closed for the duration of the time at alert level 4.
Units who choose to camp independently when it is not permitted by the State, will not be covered by liability insurance that normally covers leaders, and the supplemental health insurance that covers leaders and Scouts will not be in effect during those camping activities.
8. Den Meeting Resources
The Lake Erie Council has created Den Meeting resources to help your packs have fun meetings this fall. Whether you choose to meet in-person or virtually, our Cub Scout Virtual Adventures Kit and Meetings are a great resource to use. To purchase your kits, please go to https://scoutingevent.com/440-CSvirtualadventures.
9. Unit Funding:
The Lake Erie Council Unit Funding Specialists have developed Unit Funding Guidelines to help units fundraise during COVID-19. These can be found here.
Please note that all fundraisers outside of Scout’s Own and Popcorn are subject to approval.
The Lake Erie Council is currently in the planning stages for our 2021 Scout’s Own Sale. Please be on the lookout for more information in December.
We appreciate everyone’s commitment to our youth in Northeast Ohio. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Member Care Team at (216) 861-6060.
