The CDC previously said that schools should try to keep at least 6 feet of distance between children, but in light of the new data, the agency now recommends that most students keep at least 3 feet of distance.
On Friday, the agency is launching three new studies that claim to support the 3-foot spacing between students, as long as everyone is wearing a mask and other preventive measures are in place. Another study recently published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that there was no difference in Covid-19 rates between schools in Massachusetts that required 3 feet of physical distance compared to 6 feet, as long as everyone wore masks.
CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Thursday that the issue is urgent.
“In fact, because 1.80 meters has been a big challenge, science has tilted and studies are now emerging on the issue between three and six feet,” Walensky told Sen. Susan Collins during a Senate Health, Education, Committee hearing. Labor and Welfare.
What is in the guidance of the CDC
As always, masks are essential. Sometimes, when it is not possible to accommodate masks, such as when eating, the CDC says that it must be kept five feet away.
The CDC also recommends 6 feet away in common areas, such as lobbies and auditoriums, and during activities such as singing, shouting, banding or sports. They say it is better to move these types of activities, where there is an increase in exhalation, to outside or to well-ventilated spaces.
In classrooms, the CDC says that layout changes, such as removing non-essential furniture and facing wallets in the same direction, can help to maximize the distance between students. On school buses, the agency recommends that students be seated one child per row, skip rows and open windows to increase ventilation.
When it comes to adults, including teachers and staff, the agency says it is better to keep a distance of 2 meters, both with other adults and with children.
“Several studies have found that transmission between employees is more common than transmission between students and employees, and between students, in schools,” notes the agency.
The CDC recommends limiting the interaction between teachers and staff during meetings and breaks.
Protection layers
For schools returning to the classroom, it is important to implement layers of safety precautions, so if one fails, another will provide some protection, said Dr. Naomi Bardach, leader of the Health and Services schools reopening plan. California Humans.
She said the updated guidance will give schools more options.
The CDC says the Covid-19 test may provide additional protection for sports and schools that use less than 6 feet of distance between students in classrooms.
“You always have to be thinking about the layers in place,” said Bardach. “What are these other layers? It’s masking, it’s ventilation, hand hygiene, screening for symptoms and then screening for exposure. It’s thinking about all these layers together.”
Dr. Ebbing Lautenbach, head of the Infectious Diseases Division at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told CNN that the CDC’s new guidance should make it easier for schools to return to face-to-face teaching full-time, as opposed to attendance. staggered school year.
“Bringing children back to face-to-face learning is very logistically difficult from the point of view of space if you have to keep them 1.8 meters away, so if the orientation is changed to 3 feet, it will make things very more feasible to bring children back to classroom learning per person, “said Lautenbach.
He cautioned, however, that the main assumption for the recommendation of updated physical distance is that all students and teachers use adequate facial coverage.
CNN’s Ashley Ahn and Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this story.