Judge denies request to allow opening of Orthodox sleepaway camps in Catskills

A federal judge on Monday refused to grant a temporary order allowing Orthodox Jewish sleepaway camps in the Catskills to open in spite of a state ban on overnight children's camps this summer because of coronavirus concerns.

In a 43-page ruling, Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby of the Northern District of New York expressed sympathy for the religious beliefs of the affected families, but said he also "must acknowledge the extenuating circumstances of the COVID-19 virus and its impact throughout the world." 

"Although the State of New York has made progress in limiting the transmission of the virus in recent weeks, the recent resurgence of positive COVID-19 cases in several states raises concerns and is a painful reminder that the fight is far from over," Suddaby wrote.

He also concluded that allowing overnight camps to open would bring children from more densely populated areas and other states to rural areas with low COVID-19 levels and limited hospital beds to handle any surge in virus cases.

The underlying lawsuit challenging the state order is still pending, although it may soon be moot. Some overnight camps already have begun operating as day camps - which were allowed to open in New York last week - by busing campers back and forth each day, apparently from as far away as Brooklyn.

Sullivan County has 169 active children's camps of all types, and Ulster County has 74, according to the state Department of Health. As of last Monday, 37 Sullivan day camps had started up and five more were about to do so. Ulster had four open day camps and was expected to have another two by this week.

The lawsuit against Gov. Andrew Cuomo was brought by the Association of Jewish Camp Operators, which represents 75 Orthodox camps attended by more than 40,000 children each summer, according to the court papers. The plaintiffs argued that the decision announced on June 12 to prohibit overnight camps would block an essential part of the religious upbringing of Orthodox children and violated religious rights.

They also cast the state as hypocritical for allowing other activities with equal or worse exposure risks, emphasizing the many street protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in late May.

In past summers, more than 200,000 kids in all attended roughly 550 overnight camps in New York. The state's.attorneys argued in court papers last week that the prohibition applied to all of those camps, regardless of any religious affiliation, and that the plaintiffs were seeking an exemption from a decision that had sound health reasons.

"That determination was rationally made on the basis that overnight camps involve children and adults sleeping and eating in close proximity in an enclosed space for an extended period of time, greatly increasing the risk of spread of the virus," wrote Chris Liberati-Conant, an assistant attorney general.

He pointed out that during a flu outbreak in 2009, 1,600 campers or staff members in New York are known to have caught the illness, almost all of them at overnight camps.

Attorneys for the camp operators responded that the closure was indeed discriminatory because "only Jewish overnight camps were attempting to operate this summer by the time of Defendant’s announcement." They also accused the state of not respecting the significance of religion-infused camping.

"Defendant gives no weight whatsoever to this critical religious activity," the attorneys wrote. "Defendant does not value it, and therefore sees no reason to accommodate it."

The association had sent Cuomo a letter on May 10 imploring him to allow overnight camps to open and outlining the health precautions it had developed with doctors to avoid coronavirus infections. They argued that overnight camps were "the safest place for campers" and staff because they could be locked down and no one came and went.

The Department of Health told camp operators in a recent letter that many of them had gotten permits to open as "temporary residences," and warned them about the mandates they would have to follow, including a requirement that parents stay overnight with their children.

The department didn't respond to questions from the Times Herald-Record about how many camps got those permits. In a statement to the Record last week, officials said the prohibition on overnight camps was based on science and meant to protect children, and vowed to stop any attempts to get around the ban. 

"While we understand the disappointment of families and camp operators alike, the Department intends to investigate any attempts to circumvent this directive and will also ensure that camps with valid permits for day camp operations are in compliance with all pandemic guidelines," the statement read.

cmckenna@th-record.com