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Texas’s Camp Mystic was ‘a place of joy’. Floods turned it into a site of great loss | Texas floods 2025
The loss of 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic to the Texas Hill Country flood may serve, at a terrible cost, to expand its considerable reputation across Texas and beyond. Even as the floods claimed more lives along the valley – more than 100 confirmed dead and 160 people unaccounted for as of Tuesday – the loss of several “Mystic Girls” has dominated the headlines.
The camp, which offers two four-week terms and one two-week term over the summer, has been the go-to summer camp for daughters of Texans for nearly a century. It’s so popular that fathers have been known to call the registrar to get their daughters on the list from the delivery room.
The camp, which spans more than 700 acres, has been widely described as an all-girls Christian camp, lending an image of baptisms in the river, but the religious component may be overstated: the camp is known as one of dozens along the Guadalupe River that Texan families send their young to escape the brutal heat of the lowlands.
Now at least one-half of Camp Mystic, which was due to celebrate its centenary next year, lies in ruins, torn apart by raging floodwaters. The sound of song and girls playing has been replaced by the sound of chainsaws and heavy equipment as 19 state agencies and thousands of volunteers work to search and clear mounds of flood debris along the river, including the muddied personal items of the campers.
Five days after the flood, the task along the valley has become a search-and-recovery operation: no one has been rescued from the river alive since Friday. In addition to the lost girls, Camp Mystic’s director, Richard “Dick” Eastland, a fourth-generation owner of the camp, died while attempting to bring five girls to safety.
“It tugs at the heart of anyone in the world that see the pictures of those little faces,” said Claudia Sullivan, author of a book on the Camp Mystic experience, Heartfelt: A Memoir of Camp Mystic Inspirations. “To know that they were there, having the time of their life, that they were innocent, and then to be taken away in such a tragic event – it takes you to your knees.”
Most alumni contacted by the Guardian indicated they were too upset to discuss the camp, or its reputation, as Texas Monthly put it in a 2011 article, for serving “as a near-flawless training ground for archetypal Texas women”.
It has served generations of Texas women, often from well-to-do or politically connected Texas families, including the former first lady Laura Bush, who was a counsellor, and the daughters and granddaughters of Lyndon Johnson, former secretary of state James Baker, and Texas governors Price Daniel, Dan Moody and John Connally.
The camp may have been incorrectly characterized as a “Christian” camp. “That evokes the idea of church camp but that’s not the case,” said Sullivan. “It’s a private camp for girls that holds Christian values. When I was there we spent a lot of time talking about being kind to one another and having compassion, and there were people from other denominations and faiths.”
Camp Mystic is better understood, Sullivan added, as being in a place free from pressure.
“You’re in nature, in a beautiful setting, and really removed from the world”, said Sullivan. “It’s a place of joy and innocence – or was. My sense is that it will definitely be rebuilt, but it’s awfully early.”
The outpouring of grief and rush to support the community have been striking. A church memorial service was held on Monday in San Antonio for the “Mystic girls” who had been lost. Many dressed in the camp’s green and white, together in song and prayer.
It was not possible to get to the camp on Tuesday, a tailback of 2.5 hours extended across the 7 miles from Hunt, the nearest hamlet, to Camp Mystic. At the season’s peak in July and August, the camp hosted 750 girls aged between seven and 17 years old – that’s more than half of Hunt’s population of around 1,300.
At Ingram, a riverbank town that also lost dozens from RV camps and homes to the flood, emergency workers and volunteers were pitching in, in many cases in the hope of recovering people still lost, and many bodies likely hidden under large piles of river debris, shattered homes and mangled possessions.
John Sheffield, owner of Ingram’s Ole Ingram Grocery, said the flood had not recognized social differences and nor would the recovery effort: “This is Americans taking care of Americans. There’s been such a tremendous outpouring of support and compassion.”
Down by the river, search crews were continuing to comb through debris and mud. Claud Johnson, the mayor of Ingram, was operating a digger up by Hunt. An EMS van pulled up, suggesting another body had been found. Helicopters continued to move overhead despite an incident on Monday when one was struck by a privately operated drone and was forced to make an emergency landing.
Three baristas from the Aftersome Coffee stand in San Antonio had come up to serve recovery workers. Allyson Bebleu said she had gone to church camp and it had given her some of her fondest memories.
“It’s not just for the wealthiest families, people of all types go to camp,” she said. “Everyone is putting themselves in the shoes of the Camp Mystic girls. It’s tragic.”
Camp Mystic was also the subject of a controversial video recently posed by Sade Perkins, a former member of Houston’s Food Insecurity Board. Perkins was “permanently removed” by John Whitmire, the Houston mayor, after she called Camp Mystic a “whites only” conservative Christian camp without even “a token Asian, they don’t have a token Black person”.
Richard Vela, whose 13-year-old daughter Maya was evacuated from a nearby camp, Camp Honey Creek, on Friday and was still too upset to discuss it, said Perkins’ comments “were not right. You don’t talk about people like that. There’s a lot of death going on and they still haven’t found everybody.”
Bruce Jerome, who was manning an outreach for flood survivors in Ingram, said he had known Jane Ragsdale, the director and longtime co-owner of Heart O’ the Hills Camp, in Hunt, Texas, who had died in the flooding.
“She was just genuinely wonderful,” Jerome said.
Further down the track to the river was Josey Garcia, a Democratic representative for San Antonio in the Texas state house. She and her team were also picking through the debris, pointing out vast piles that still need to be be sifted through.
Garcia, a military veteran, said it was important to come “and collaborate with our neighbors here to recover those that are missing and help Kerr county clean up. We’ve had folks coming from Laredo and outstate Kansas to lend assistance. It’s showing the spirit of Texas – when it comes to lives being devastated its our duty to step.”
Garcia, too, rejected negative characterizations of Camp Mystic.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of the rhetoric that’s been going around. This is not the time for those types of distinctions. I don’t care who was at the camp. All I know is that there are parents and families that are missing their loved ones. Whether it’s rich Caucasian children or any other children, we’d still be there.”
The Supreme Court
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday left in place a lower court decision that blocked part of a Florida law making it a crime for undocumented immigrants to cross into the state. The statute imposed various mandatory prison terms for violating the law.
The high court’s action came in a one sentence order, without any elaboration and without any noted dissents.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state legislation into law in February, and just two months later the law made national headlines when Florida’s Highway Patrol arrested Juan Carlos Lopez-Garcia, an American-born U.S. citizen, for crossing into the state from Georgia. Lopez-Garcia was detained for 24 hours before his release.
Immigrant rights organizations and undocumented immigrants sued, arguing that the new Florida law conflicted with federal immigration law, and under longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states must bow to federal law in the event of such conflicts.
Florida, however, maintained that state legislation is necessary to curb the “evil effects of immigration,” and that state law works in tandem with federal law. Until now, however, the Supreme Court has held that federal law occupies the immigration field if there is a conflict.
Florida is not the first state to pass a law to criminalize illegal immigration, only to be blocked by the federal courts. In recent years, federal judges have blocked similar state efforts in Oklahoma, Iowa, and Idaho—each time deciding that a state law criminalizing illegal immigration would conflict with existing national laws. In 2024, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Texas’s efforts to enforce a similar law.
While Wednesday’s Supreme Court order blocked parts of the Florida law championed by DeSantis, the immigration issue remains a winning proposition for the governor. In May, he announced that in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Florida led a “first-of-its-kind statewide operation” arresting more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants in less than a week.
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Novartis receives approval for first malaria medicine for newborn babies and young infants
- Coartem® (artemether-lumefantrine) Baby becomes first malaria treatment approved for newborn babies and young infants
- Rapid approvals in eight African countries now expected under a special global health scheme run by Swiss agency for therapeutic products (Swissmedic)
- Novartis plans to introduce infant-friendly Coartem Baby on largely not-for-profit basis to increase access in areas where malaria is endemic
Basel, July 8, 2025 – Novartis today announced Coartem® (artemether-lumefantrine) Baby has been approved by Swissmedic as the first malaria medicine for newborns and young infants. The new treatment, also known as Riamet® Baby in some countries, was developed in collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to treat the potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease.
Eight African countries also participated in the assessment and are now expected to issue rapid approvals under the Swiss agency’s Marketing Authorization for Global Health Products procedure.1 Novartis plans to introduce the infant-friendly treatment on a largely not-for-profit basis to increase access in areas where malaria is endemic.
“For more than three decades, we have stayed the course in the fight against malaria, working relentlessly to deliver scientific breakthroughs where they are needed most,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. “Together with our partners, we are proud to have gone further to develop the first clinically proven malaria treatment for newborns and young babies, ensuring even the smallest and most vulnerable can finally receive the care they deserve.”
Until now, there has been no approved malaria treatment for infants weighing less than 4.5 kilograms, leaving a treatment gap. They have instead been treated with formulations intended for use in older children, which may increase the risk of overdose and toxicity. Malaria vaccines are also not approved for the youngest babies.2
Some 30 million babies are born in areas of malaria risk in Africa every year,3 with one large survey across West Africa reporting infections ranging between 3.4% and 18.4% in infants younger than 6 months old.4 However, current data on malaria in young babies is extremely limited as they are rarely included in clinical trials of antimalarial agents.5,6
“The available malaria treatments have only been properly tested in children aged at least 6 months because smaller infants are usually excluded from treatment trials,” said Professor Umberto D’Alessandro, Director of the MRC Unit, The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “That matters because neonates and young infants have immature liver function and metabolize some medicines differently, so the dose for older children may not be appropriate for small babies.”
The new dose strength designed for young infants was developed by Novartis with the scientific and financial support of MMV, and as part of the PAMAfrica consortium, which is co-funded by the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The treatment is dissolvable, including in breast milk, and has a sweet cherry flavor to make it easier to administer.
“Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, particularly among children. But with the right resources and focus, it can be eliminated,” said Martin Fitchet, CEO of MMV. “The approval of Coartem Baby provides a necessary medicine with an optimized dose to treat an otherwise neglected group of patients and offers a valuable addition to the antimalarial toolbox.”
About the CALINA study
The Swissmedic approval is based on the Phase II/III CALINA study, which investigated a new ratio and dose of Coartem (artemether-lumefantrine) to account for metabolic differences in babies under 5 kilograms. It is indicated for the treatment of infants and neonates weighing between 2 and less than 5 kilograms with acute, uncomplicated infections due to Plasmodium falciparum or mixed infections including P. falciparum. Coartem is known by the brand name Riamet in Switzerland and some other countries.
About malaria
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite and spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes. According to the most recent WHO data, there were 263 million cases of malaria and 597,000 deaths in 2023, almost all of them in Africa. Children under 5 years old accounted for about three in four malaria deaths in the region.7
About Novartis in malaria innovation
Novartis finds breakthroughs for diseases neglected by science and brings innovative medicines to communities on the margins of healthcare, building on 85 years of innovation in global health. Novartis has built the industry’s largest pipeline of treatments to control or eliminate malaria and neglected tropical diseases, backed by nearly USD 490 million in funding for global health R&D since 2021. This includes four new antimalarial compounds with the potential to combat rising drug resistance, one of which is just completing Phase III trials, and another which is a potential single-dose cure. Since 1999, Novartis has delivered more than 1.1 billion treatment courses of antimalarials, mostly at no profit, including 500 million treatments of a child-friendly formulation for babies weighing at least 5 kilograms.
Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as “potential,” “can,” “will,” “plan,” “may,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “look forward,” “believe,” “committed,” “investigational,” “pipeline,” “launch,” or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures and requirements for increased pricing transparency; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases; safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG’s current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Novartis
Novartis is an innovative medicines company. Every day, we work to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives so that patients, healthcare professionals and societies are empowered in the face of serious disease. Our medicines reach nearly 300 million people worldwide.
Reimagine medicine with us: Visit us at https://www.novartis.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram.
About MMV
MMV is a Swiss not-for-profit working to deliver a portfolio of accessible medicines with the power to treat, prevent and eliminate malaria. Born in 1999 to drive health equity, MMV closes critical gaps in research, development and access – to expand the use of existing antimalarials and innovate new compounds. This starts with women and children. As of 2024, MMV-supported products have effectively treated more than 711 million patients.
For more information, visit www.mmv.org Follow MMV on social media: X, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook
References
- Eight African countries participated in Swissmedic’s Marketing Authorization for Global Health Products (MAGHP) procedure for Coartem Baby – Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda — and are expected to approve the medicine following approval by Swissmedic. These eight countries account for 47% of estimated cases in 2023, according to the WHO’s Global Health Observatory
- WHO. Malaria vaccines (RTS,S and R21)
- Reddy, Valentina et al. Global estimates of the number of pregnancies at risk of malaria from 2007 to 2020: a demographic study. The Lancet Global Health, Volume 11, Issue 1, e40 – e47
- Ceesay SJ et al. Malaria Prevalence among Young Infants in Different Transmission Settings, Africa. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 Jul;21(7):1114-21. doi: 10.3201/eid2107.142036. PMID: 26079062; PMCID: PMC4480393.
- D’Alessandro U, et al. Malaria in infants aged less than six months – is it an area of unmet medical need? Malar J. 2012 Dec 2;11:400. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-11-400. PMID: 23198986; PMCID: PMC3529680.
- Dobbs, et al. Plasmodium malaria and antimalarial antibodies in the first year of life. Parasitology. 2016;143(2):129-138. doi:10.1017/S0031182015001626
- WHO. Malaria.
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Measles cases in the United States are the highest they’ve been since the country eliminated the disease in 2000. The U.S. has reported 1,277 cases since the start of the year, according to NBC News’ tally of state health department data.
Earlier this year, the U.S. also recorded its first measles deaths in a decade: those of two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico. All were unvaccinated.
For the past 25 years, measles has been considered eliminated in the U.S. because it has not continuously spread over a yearlong period.
There are still periodic outbreaks, however, including one that took off in in a Mennonite community in West Texas earlier this year. Vaccination rates in Gaines County, the center of the outbreak, are particularly low: As of the 2023-24 school year, 82% of kindergarteners in the county had received two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) vaccine, far below the 95% rate needed to curb spread.
Dr. David Sugerman, a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a meeting of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee in April that measles would have to keep spreading through January 20 of next year for the U.S. to lose its elimination status.
Most of the cases so far this year are linked to the Southwest outbreak — there have been more than 700 cases in Texas alone — though a number of smaller outbreaks, resulting from international travel, have been detected across the U.S.
The resurgence of measles can be attributed, in part, to declining vaccination rates both globally and nationally. During the 2023-24 school year, less than 93% of kindergartners in the U.S. received the recommended two doses of the MMR vaccine, down from 95% during the 2019-20 school year.
The West Texas outbreak parallels one in 2019 among Orthodox Jewish communities in New York with low vaccination rates. The U.S. recorded 1,274 cases that year. A vaccination campaign, which included a vaccine mandate in New York City and officials administering 60,000 doses in affected communities, helped contain the spread.
New York’s response was “an incredible feat and something we’re obviously trying to emulate,” Sugerman said. But he noted that the loss of Covid grant money has created “funding limitations” in Texas. The CDC slashed $11.4 billion in Covid funding last month, some of which helped state health departments respond to disease outbreaks. Each measles case may cost $30,000 to $50,000 to address, which “adds up quite quickly,” Sugerman said.
Many disease experts have also expressed concern that the federal messaging around vaccines could make the outbreak harder to contain. While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for people to get the measles vaccine, he has also framed vaccination as a personal choice, emphasized unproven treatments such as steroids or antibiotics and falsely claimed that immunity from measles vaccines wanes quickly.
An HHS spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that the agency “continues to support community efforts in dealing with the measles outbreaks. CDC continues to provide technical assistance, laboratory support, and vaccines as requested.”
The statement said that the CDC recommends MMR vaccines as the best way to protect against measles, but added, “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”
Dr. Ana Montanez, a pediatrician who treats patients in Lubbock and Gaines County, said at a press conference in April that misinformation was the “biggest nemesis” for health care providers. She was aware of some patients taking vitamin A instead of getting vaccinated, she said. Kennedy has played up the role of vitamin A in helping measles patients, though it’s unclear how beneficial it is. The CDC says vitamin A can be administered under the supervision of a health care provider, but it’s not a treatment for the disease.
“Countering the misinformation put out there about using vitamin A for treatment of measles has been a struggle, an upward struggle,” Montanez said.
By contrast, two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective against measles and offer lifelong protection. The virus is particularly dangerous for babies and young children, whose immune systems aren’t always developed enough to fight an infection. In Texas, officials recommended an early dose for babies ages 6 to 11 months. Unvaccinated children older than 12 months old should get one dose, according to the state, then a second dose 28 days later.
Measles often starts with a high fever, cough, runny nose and pink or watery eyes. From there, patients may develop white spots on the insides of the cheeks near the molars and a blotchy rash of flat, red spots. Severe cases can progress to pneumonia or swelling of the brain.
Roughly 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 children with measles die from respiratory and neurological complications, according to the CDC.
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