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Cori Solomon, executive director of Appel Farm Arts and Music Center, is trying desperately to figure out how to make her summer program work.
"Everyone's saying you can do it if you can do it right, but doing it right is impossible right now," said Solomon.
But she said her New Jersey camp doesn't have access to the resources they need amid this coronavirus pandemic, lacking testing, and even gloves and hand sanitizer.
And with little time left until the start of the season, she says there's no clear stance on whether they will open.
"We need our state leader to make a clear decision around the safety for the summer," she expressed.
In Pennsylvania, there has been no direct decision yet either, but Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine promised guidance is coming. "We are working on that now with the governor's office and other departments," she said.
Meanwhile, Carlos Nunez, assistant director at Miquon Day Camp, is trying to figure out how to work within guidelines, with 100 to 200 campers slated to arrive. He doesn't believe the decision to reopen should be left to individual camp directors.
"There are many paths to take but no leader or representative is saying specifically to take this path," he lamented.
The problem is, none of the campers have officially been set. Miquon camp director Cindy Flemming Powell pointed out it takes time to figure out how to separate kids in bunks, set up a swimming schedule and the flow of bus drops offs.
"And so we have nothing there to help you train, to prepare to help you get ready to do the dry runs," she said. "I worry that if there isn't a really clear how-to, there's going to be something that we miss that we don't think about that could put kids in danger or grownups in danger or our staff in danger."
And if summer camps decided they can't open safely, Solomon explained the only hope they have for any type of insurance claim would be through their business continuity insurance.
"That choice then to close our business ourselves would eliminate that option," she said, "so it's important that it's not our decision."