According to new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), students can sit three feet apart rather than six in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19—but only if other safety precautions are in place. The new recommendations could make it easier for schools to open up in-person classes.
Elementary school students can sit at least three feet apart—rather than six feet—provided that everyone is wearing a face mask, according to the CDC’s new guidelines. Middle and high school students can do the same as long as universal mask wearing is in place and transmission levels are not high within the community.
If transmission levels are high, schools should try to institute cohorting for middle and high school students, the CDC says, which means that groups of students and staff are kept together throughout the day to reduce the chances of spreading the virus widely within the population. But if cohorting isn’t an option, students in those age groups should continue to sit at least six feet apart.
The guidelines represent the CDC’s efforts to encourage in-person classes as much as possible—while ensuring that those classes are also held as safely as possible. But after months and months of hearing about the importance of staying at least six feet apart (or even further under certain circumstances), it may be a little jarring to think about three feet as an option.
The new guidance is partly due to findings that transmission of the coronavirus works differently in kids of different age groups. While younger kids can get and spread COVID-19, older kids are more likely to be exposed to and spread the coronavirus, the CDC says. Previous research also showed that daycares with young children are generally not a huge source of coronavirus transmission, SELF reported.
And a more recent study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and cited by Anthony Fauci, M.D., in a recent press briefing, looked at the effects of having students in 251 school districts distanced at least three feet versus six feet apart. In the study, which included data for more than 530,000 students and 99,000 staff members in Massachusetts schools, there were no significant differences in COVID-19 rates between schools requiring at least three feet between students and those requiring at least six feet.
The key point to remember, though, is that other precautions need to be in place before social distancing requirements can be relaxed in this way. “I’m OK with 3 feet IF all other precautions are being followed,” Linsey Marr, Ph.D., an engineering professor at Virginia Tech who studies the airborne transmission of viruses, wrote on Twitter. The safety priorities in schools for in-person classes should start with universal and correct use of masks, she said, followed by cleaning the air, maintaining health facilities, physical distancing, handwashing, and contact tracing.
Issues around opening schools safely continue to be complex. The CDC’s new guidelines for students are just the latest step in finding a way to alleviate some of the significant stress of virtual learning on kids (most of whom can’t yet be vaccinated) and their families. It is possible to hold in-person classes safely, the CDC says, and it may even be possible to relax some of the social distancing regulations for students, but that must be done only with other precautions firmly in place.
Related:
- CDC Officials Say Schools Can Reopen—If They Take These COVID-19 Precautions
- 9 Ways to Prepare for Your COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment
- What Can You Do After Your COVID-19 Vaccine? The CDC Just Released New Guidelines.