The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidance for schools to say that students can safely social distance with 3 feet of space rather than 6 feet, a move that will allow more students to return to classrooms faster.
“CDC now recommends that, with universal masking, students should maintain a distance of at least 3 feet in classroom settings,” the agency announced Friday.
The new CDC guidance says students and staff in K-12 schools may now maintain 3 feet of distance from one another as long as mask use is universal. Three CDC studies published Friday provide evidence that 3 feet is a sufficient distance to keep transmission down in schools. Maintaining a 6-foot distance is still recommended when students gather in auditoriums, lobbies, and other enclosed spaces, as well as while they eat and participate in extracurricular activities.
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“CDC is committed to leading with science and updating our guidance as new evidence emerges,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. “These updated recommendations provide the evidence-based roadmap to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for in-person instruction.”
Another study published earlier this week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases concluded that “increasing physical distancing requirements from 3 to 6 feet in school settings is not associated with a reduction in [COVID-19] cases among students or staff, provided other mitigation measures … are implemented.”
Earlier this month, physicians said the CDC improperly cited their findings in order to delay the return to in-person classes. The guidance from the agency that students and staff should follow the 6-foot distancing recommendation “does not take into account the data we have regarding little disease transmission in schools.”
The CDC recommendation of 6 feet for social distancing has rankled parents, educators, and lawmakers in states and the federal government who argue that following that protocol restricts the number of children able to return to in-person classes full time after about a year of school closures and remote learning.
