Boys And Girls Clubs Of Oklahoma County NE Branch Closes Due To COVID-19 Cases

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County announced they are closing their northeast branch location for the rest of the summer due to COVID-19 cases reported at the facility. Officials said the decision was to prevent the spread of the virus.  

“It's just a little surprising and concerning that this has kind of popped up this week and that our cases in the state are going up so much,” Teena Belsick, president & CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County said. 

Belsick said roughly 80 kids attended the summer camp at Tabernacle Baptist Church.  

“The kids that go there are primarily between kindergarten and sixth grade and so they are all at an age where they are not yet eligible for the vaccine, so that's another reason why we're trying to be just extra careful and be very conservative and making sure we're doing everything we can to keep them safe and keep them healthy,” Belsick said. 

Belsick said by ending the program early, those kids will be able to quarantine ahead of the upcoming school year. She said they did relax their COVID-19 protocols this summer by making masks optional, but they're looking into increasing safety measures going forward. 

“If cases are staying about where they are or hopefully not any worse, but if they were to get worse, we would go back to our most stringent measures, and we will be requiring everyone adults and kids vaccinated or not to be wearing masks. Our under 12 who can't be vaccinated really have to depend on us to do everything we can to help them,” Belsick said. 

The summer program for other branches ends July 30.