In this undated photo released by Camp Walt Whitman, sailboats on Lake Armington at Camp Walt Whitman, a 300-acre sleepaway camp in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The camp will decide later this month whether to close, remain open or postpone their opening date due to the novel coronavirus. Camps across the U.S. are scrambling to make a similar decision about summer 2020 and parents are getting a first wave of closure notices for some camps in harder-hit states. (Camp Walt Whitman via AP)
In this undated photo released by Camp Walt Whitman, sailboats on Lake Armington at Camp Walt Whitman, a 300-acre sleepaway camp in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The camp will decide later this month whether to close, remain open or postpone their opening date due to the novel coronavirus. Camps across the U.S. are scrambling to make a similar decision about summer 2020 and parents are getting a first wave of closure notices for some camps in harder-hit states. (Camp Walt Whitman via AP)

New Hampshire’s summer camp operators are seeking updated guidance by March 1 in preparation for their next season.

Only four of the state’s 95 overnight summer camps opened last summer because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hoping to change that this year, the New Hampshire Camp Directors Association, Boys and Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire and the YMCA presented their concerns Thursday to the governor’s economic reopening task force.

According to their presentation, a national study of more than 480 camps serving 90,000 children found very few cases of COVID-19, with about 100 confirmed cases. They said the rate of infection in camps was below the rate of community spread, even in areas with high infection rates, and that there was no greater risk of infection if camps accepted campers and staff from out of state.

New Hampshire’s summer camp industry employs more than 300 full-time, year-round staff. Before the pandemic, nearly 100,000 children participated each summer.

The organizations said camps need guidance soon so they have time to plan, hire and train staff, communicate with parents and enroll and prepare campers.