Several teens at the Grizzly Academy in SLO came down with COVID. How is it still open?

If it’s not safe to reopen college campuses or K-12 schools, it stands to reason that it’s equally risky to restart the California National Guard’s Grizzly Youth Academy.

Yet that’s exactly what the National Guard did last month — against the advice of Grizzly’s Board of Directors, which unanimously recommended keeping the program at Camp San Luis Obispo closed.

What happened next is predictable.

As Tribune writer Matt Fountain recently reported, an unknown number of cadets tested positive for coronavirus and were sent home.

Even so, it appears the California National Guard still has every intention of continuing to operate Grizzly Academy — a residential program for youths 16-18 who have dropped out of school or are seriously behind in credits needed to graduate.

The program is highly regarded, and draws teens from multiple counties around the state.

But the decision to reopen the camp makes no sense.

We know COVID spreads more easily in congregate living situations. That’s exactly why California has taken the controversial step of releasing some prison inmates early.

Yet here we have a government agency actively recruiting and enrolling candidates in a congregate living program.

While it’s true that healthy young people are less likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19, cadets who are sent home could very well be exposing vulnerable family members to coronavirus. And what about the staff and instructors who work with the teens?

The National Guard is offering no explanation for its decision.

Nor will military officials talk about what safety protocols they’re following.

That extreme secrecy only raises questions:

Is social distancing strictly enforced?

Are cadets wearing masks at all times?

How often are students and staff tested?

How many are sharing each bunkhouse?

Are the classrooms and sleeping quarters well ventilated?

And why all the secrecy about the number of positive cases?

Fountain spent weeks asking questions of officials and filing requests for information. He was told only that “a group” of cadets had tested positive. A group could mean five or 25.

Grizzly Academy isn’t the only government agency being evasive. Fountain also got the run-around from Atascadero State Hospital, arguably the most secretive government facility in SLO County.

The state hospital system — for supposed health-privacy reasons that defy logic — won’t divulge the exact number of patients who test positive if that number is less than 11. The same goes for deaths.

Why? The Tribune isn’t asking agencies to provide details about any individual person.

We simply want the same type of data County Public Health is providing about the general population: the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations and number of deaths.

That information is essential in determining the spread of coronavirus in our community, especially when you consider 2,100 local residents work at ASH.

It’s also an indicator of how well public agencies are caring for the vulnerable individuals under their care.

The lack of transparency only triggers suspicion and fear. And what’s the point?

It can’t be to protect privacy, since the release of raw numbers doesn’t identify individuals.

If it’s to protect the reputation of the institutions, that’s absurd. We’re in a pandemic, and sharing information is key to avoiding spread.

Public agencies cannot be exempted from reporting cases.

Nor should they be allowed to disregard the public health orders that apply to all the rest of us.

San Luis Obispo County is on the governor’s watchlist. Schools are not allowed to reopen until conditions improve.

How is it, then, that Grizzly Academy is up and running?

It’s time county and state officials — including county supervisors and our local state lawmakers — demand answers.

Risking the health of Grizzly Youth Academy cadets, as well as the health of camp employees, is unacceptable.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.