The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encouraged K-12 schools to continue requiring face masks and social distancing for students.
“All schools should implement and layer prevention strategies and should prioritize universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing,” the new CDC guideline reads.
While other businesses and governments are lifting their mask mandates, the CDC updated its guidelines Saturday to encourage schools to “safely open for in-person instruction and remain open.”
“Schools are an important part of the infrastructure of communities, as they provide safe and supportive learning environments for students, employ teachers and other staff, and enable parents, guardians, and caregivers to work. Many students, staff, and caregivers are either missing or have had interruptions in services due to school building closures and virtual and hybrid learning. Evidence suggests that many K–12 schools that have strictly implemented prevention strategies have been able to safely open for in-person instruction and remain open,” the CDC also said.
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“CDC’s K-12 operational strategy presents a pathway for schools to provide in-person instruction safely through consistent use of prevention strategies, including universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing,” the guideline continued.
The update comes just days after the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks or socially distance themselves from one another. This includes indoor or outdoor settings.
Teachers and other faculty members should be vaccinated, the CDC added, as vaccinated adults provide additional protections for the students.
“Testing to identify individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination for teachers and staff provide additional layers of COVID-19 protection in schools,” it said.
The CDC cautioned, however, that some children who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic could continue to face disadvantages with in-person learning situations.
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“The absence of in-person educational options might disadvantage children from all backgrounds, particularly children in low-resourced communities who might be at an educational disadvantage. These students might be less likely to have access to technology to facilitate virtual learning and more likely to rely on key school-supported resources such as school meal programs, special education and related services, counseling, and after-school programs,” it said. “Some parents and caregivers might have less-flexible jobs that do not permit staying at home to provide childcare and aid with virtual learning if schools are closed to in-person instruction.”
“On the other hand, certain racial and ethnic groups have borne a disproportionate burden of illness and serious outcomes from COVID-19. These health disparities are evident even among school-aged children, suggesting that in-person instruction might pose a greater risk of COVID-19 to disproportionately affected populations. For these reasons, health equity considerations related to in-person instruction are an integral part of this complex decision-making,” the CDC continued.
The CDC has also stated that though children can get infected by the coronavirus, “most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all.”
