Summer camps reopen in Miami-Dade on Monday. And yes, your mask is required.

Miami-Dade County this week authorized summer camps to open on Monday, with rules for social distancing and wearing masks, but Kendall resident Ivan Rodriguez said he doesn’t feel comfortable sending his 8-year-old son back to camp.

He doesn’t have faith in the new rules or the public officials who wrote them.

““It just seems like our local government is not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I feel like everything is rushed just for the sake of having things open and having the economy back up,” Rodriguez, 37, said. “I think they think the people are expendable.”

“My son — he means everything to me, so I don’t want to put him in harm’s way if it’s not really, truly necessary,” he added.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez released new orders June 4 that allow gyms, tattoo shops, short-term rentals, dog parks and youth summer camps to reopen June 8, ending about three months of emergency closures that were implemented in response to the spread of coronavirus in South Florida.

The announcement came the same day a county tracking report noted that new positive cases for coronavirus hit a two-week high on Thursday.

Jim Haj, president and CEO of The Children’s Trust and a member of the working group for the county on reopening youth activities and summer camps, said the decision to allow camps to open was made partly because as businesses reopen, more adults are returning to work.

“Some people do not have the luxury of keeping their child at home and do need to physically have a place for them,” Haj said.

Summer camps, which experts said could be a pilot program for the possible reopening of schools in the fall, can open under a series of restrictions similar to rules imposed on other newly reopened operations, such as parks and restaurants.

Experts also said that with proper preparation, it could be safe for summer camps to open, although they added outdoor summer camps are much safer than those that prioritize indoor activities.

▪ According to the county’s “new normal” guidelines, staff and children over 2 years old are required to wear masks at camp, although those engaging in strenuous activity can remove them if they also maintain 10-foot social distance.

▪ Camps have to revise their capacities to ensure separate spaces for groups of up to 10 people.

▪ Additionally, staff and children will be subject to temperature tests and parents will be asked CDC screening questions about their kids. Anyone with a temperature above 100.4 will not be allowed to enter the camp.

▪ Sick staff and kids must stay home.

▪ Each day and throughout the day, facilities must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. And camps must reinforce increased hand washing for staff and children alike.

▪ Kids should not share items at camp and they also should not bring toys, blankets or other comfort items from home.

“One of the guiding principles when we first started is you take care of the whole community but you have to take extra precautions with children,” Haj said.

▪ The county’s guidelines also state that all field trips and activities should comply with social distancing guidelines. The county recommends using vehicular transport only when necessary. It encourages other means of travel, such as walking, jogging, bicycling and hiking, when possible.

But the new guidelines aren’t enough for Rodriguez, who sent son Jalen to summer camp at Florida International University last year, where Rodriguez also works.

FIU is not holding traditional in-person summer camps this year, only online camps, said Madeline Baró, director of media relations.

While online camps are an option he’ll consider, Rodriguez said he doesn’t think there are any conditions summer camps at FIU or elsewhere could implement that would ease his concerns about Jalen’s health and safety if he attended in person.

“I don’t think any of this should be normalized, to tell you the truth. It’s not normal,” Rodriguez said. “We as adults ... we take our chances and we know better. But our children — all we want to do is keep them safe. That’s basically it, I just want to keep my child safe.”

Dr. Eneida Roldan, CEO of the Health Care Network, former CEO and president of the Jackson Health System and a professor at Florida International University, said summer camps can “absolutely” open in Miami with proper preparation. In addition to wearing masks and practicing social distancing, she recommends children bring their own meals to camp to reduce the risk of disease transmission.

“One of the things as a society we have to accept is that we cannot prevent 100 [percent] of the virus 100 percent of the time,” Roldan said.

Roldan said summer camps will be a good indicator of how schools will operate if they reopen in the fall. Schools will have to combat an additional layer of difficulty, she said, as the school environment is focused on indoor classrooms while camps usually have children spend more time outside.

Dr. Rick Martinello, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Hospital, said summer camps could provide information for school in the fall, both in terms of how COVID-free summer camps are and how well kids and others adjust to social distancing, wearing masks and other new rules.

Experts said another important factor is ensuring groups of kids and camp leaders don’t mix. Haj said that camps will be arranged into groups with one leader per every 10 kids. Those groups will stick together and not interact with other groups.

The county opted to limit the size of groups rather than put percentage caps on camp facilities, as it did in businesses such as restaurants. Haj said the size of the facility determines how many people can be present.

The YMCA of South Florida, however, will limit its camps to 100 kids per facility. The YMCA will open camps at its South Dade, Upper Keys, Aventura, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood and Hallandale locations on Monday, said Tongelia Milton, executive director of communications. Another camp in Miami Lakes will open in a couple of weeks.

The YMCA is limiting teams to nine members and one leader rather than 10 members.

“The concern is that we haven’t done this before, so we’re trying to do everything that we can to make sure that we keep people safe,” Milton said.

The town of Miami Lakes partners with the YMCA to bring camps to two sites, which Mayor Manny Cid said are both usually “jam-packed with kids.” Cid said the town will allow camps to open on Monday and will follow the rules set by Miami-Dade.

“We need to reopen our summer camps for folks to go back to work,” Cid said. “In my area, Hialeah, Miami Lakes, North Miami ... we’re one of the most working-class areas in Dade county, if not all of South Florida. [I] want to make sure that our residents can get back to work, and they need the summer camps to go back to work.”