The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating whether 6 feet away is needed to keep students safe at school – or whether 3 feet is sufficient.
The debate has important implications for the reopening of schools: The current CDC guidance recommends keeping 6 feet of distance between students, severely limiting the number of people who can safely fit into each classroom.
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CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was asked about the matter during a hearing by the subcommittee on Wednesday of the Chamber’s Energy and Commerce Committee. The subject of the hearing was the distribution of vaccines.
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Lobbied Walensky about when the CDC would provide guidance for relaxing physical distance requirements in schools.
“Yes or no, if people are masked, is it safe and more practical to open schools 3 meters away?” McMorris Rodgers asked Walensky.
Walensky replied that science on the subject continues to evolve. In fact, a growing body of evidence suggests that a meter may be acceptable.
A study, published last week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, compared the rates of Covid-19 cases between students and staff in Massachusetts public schools with different physical distance requirements.
Among more than 240 school districts studied, the Covid-19 case rates were similar, regardless of whether the districts required a physical distance of 3 feet or 6 feet.
The research concluded: “Policies of less physical distance can be adopted in school environments with masking mandates, without negatively impacting the safety of the student or the team”.
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And a review of research published in The Lancet last year supported the physical distance of at least 3 feet, as long as people wear adequate facial coverings.
Wearing a mask is the key. Walensky noted, in response to McMorris Rodgers’ questions, that a shorter distance would require 100 percent mask compliance. A CDC survey published in February found that only 65% of elementary and high school students said their classmates wore masks all the time.
Dr. Robert Murphy, professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that as long as people do not sing, shout or emit many breath drops, a physical distance of 3 feet appears to be safe, as long as the people are masked.
“Is 6 feet better? Yes!” Murphy said. “But it’s also 100 feet.”
Walensky said that further studies on the subject are pending and that the CDC hopes to update its guidance on physical distance in schools “soon”.
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