NEW YORK (AP) – Students can sit safely within 1 meter of each other in the classroom as long as they are wearing masks, but they must be kept the usual 1 meter apart during sporting events, meetings, lunch or choir practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday relaxing the COVID-19 guidelines.
The revised recommendations represent a turnaround from the 6-foot standard that has severely limited the number of students some schools can accommodate. Some places have had to remove desks, stagger schedules, and other measures to keep kids apart.
Three feet “gives school districts more flexibility to accommodate more students for longer periods,” said Kevin Quinn, director of maintenance and facilities at Mundelein High School in suburban Chicago.
In recent months, schools have been in some states have ignored the CDC guidelines and use 3 feet as their default. Research into what happened in some of them helped influence the agency, said Greta Massetti, who heads the CDC’s task force for community interventions.
“We don’t really have the evidence that it takes 6 feet to maintain a low spread,” she said. Also, younger children are less likely to become seriously ill with the coronavirus and do not seem to spread it as often as adults, and “that gives us confidence that that 1 meter physical distance is safe.”
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the revised recommendations are a “roadmap to help schools reopen safely and remain open for in-person instruction.” She said personal education gives students not only “the education they need to succeed” but also access to critical social and mental health services.
The new guidance:
– Removes recommendations for plastic shields or other barriers between desks. “We don’t have much evidence of their effectiveness” in preventing transmission, Massetti said.
– Advises at least 1 meter of space between desks in elementary schools, even in towns and cities with a wide spread in the community, as long as students and teachers wear masks and take other precautions.
– Says the distance in secondary and secondary schools can also be 90 cm, as long as there is not a high degree of dispersion in the community If so, the distance should be at least 6 feet.
The CDC said 6 feet still needs to be maintained in communal areas, such as school lobbies, and when masks cannot be worn, such as when eating.
Students should also be kept six feet apart in situations where many people are talking, cheering, or singing, all of which can expel droplets containing the coronavirus. That includes choir practice, meetings and sporting events.
Teachers and other adults should stay six feet from each other and from students, the CDC said.
The CDC’s advice for 6 feet for schools released last year was the same standard applied to workplaces and other environments. In contrast, the World Health Organization suggested that 1 meter – just over 3 feet – was enough in schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics says desks should be three feet apart and “ideally” six feet.
The CDC guidance has been problematic for many schools that traditionally had 25, 30 or more children per class in closely spaced desks. Some schools had complicated schedules. For example, half a class may come to school on some days and the other half on other days.
Some schools stopped using lockers and faltered when different classes could be moved between classes to avoid crowding in the hallways, where keeping some distance can be difficult.
The Ridley school system in suburban Philadelphia has taken such steps to comply with the 6-foot directive. But neighboring communities advanced by a meter, “and we don’t see that the data really reflects a different spread rate,” said Lee Ann Wentzel, district superintendent.
Even before the CDC took action, the district had decided to switch to a distance of 1 meter next month. Wentzel said the change in the CDC guidelines will make it easier to explain and defend the decision.
A recent study in Massachusetts looked at students and staff in schools using the 3-foot standard and those using the 6-foot standard. It found no significant difference in infection rates.
Massetti said other research has also been influential, including two studies released by the CDC on Friday. One from Utah discovered slow coronavirus transmission rates among college students who did a good job wearing masks and whose desks were only three feet apart. The other study, conducted in Missouri, pointed to a similar conclusion.
Still, the change at the CDC met with skepticism in some quarters.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the 1.6 million-member union is reviewing the latest research, “but we are concerned that this change is being caused by a lack of physical space rather than the hard science about it. exposure to aerosols and transfer. “
Dr. Lawrence Kleinman, a professor of pediatrics and global urban public health at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that six feet is “probably safe” if schools do everything right – if everyone wears masks and washes their hands correctly at all times, and if the ventilation is good. But he said that’s unlikely.
“I will not send my child to a school that is 1 meter away,” said Kleinman, who has a 4-year-old daughter.
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.