TROY, Mo. — Last week, the Girl Scouts overnight camp in Troy, Missouri was cut short one night due to several positive cases.
This week, several positive cases sent campers at the Camp Cedarledge site in Pevely, Missouri home after the second day.
Parents are not happy with how they were notified of the outbreak.
"I love Girl Scouts," Taybia Brown, parent of a camper said.
That's why she felt comfortable sending her 11-year-old daughter to her first overnight experience at the Girl Scouts' Camp Tuckaho in Troy, Missouri.
"They did a head lice check, a temperature screening for COVID and a foot exam to make sure there were no athlete's foot problems. We were there about 40 minutes getting all her stuff together and then we said goodbye," Brown said.
That was Sunday. She didn't plan to come back until Friday to pick up her daughter, but then she got a call from a staff member just after 9:00 p.m. Thursday night.
"She says that they are recommending that all of the campers be picked up as soon as possible because there were positive COVID cases," Brown said.
Brown and her husband immediately drove an hour and a half to Troy that night to get their daughter.
"All of the camper's gear is in piles outside on the ground, it was kind of scary lit up by flashlights.," Brown said. "They were rushed out of the showers after swimming, literally, they were like, one of the girls said, 'I still have conditioner in my hair because they told us to immediately get out,' and they made them use the emergency exit of the pool house to go."
The pick-up process was confusing, and Brown says parents were notified about the shutdown at different times.
"Some people had started picking their kids up at 6:30 that evening. By the time I got my phone call, it was three hours later, and my friend had not received her phone call at 11:30 at night. That's five hours from at least the first person," Brown said.
Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri sent a statement confirming cases among staff and campers. They wrote in part, "Our notification timing and camper pickup process did not go as smoothly as expected and we are deeply sorry for the confusion and inconvenience this caused for our campers and their families.
"Girls Scouts needs to understand that this gives a bad taste in the mouth of parents," Brown said.
Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri has COVID guidelines listed on their website, which state masks are optional.
In the statement provided Thursday, Girls Scouts of Eastern Missouri said they're taking measures to improve this process for future camping experiences.