CDC Says Distancing of 3 Feet for Kids is Sufficient
WASHINGTON- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday that it has revised its social distancing guidelines for schools, further clearing the way for schools to reopen for full-time, in-person instruction.
The agency now says students should keep a distance of 3 feet instead of the 6 feet it had previously recommended. It still suggests maintaining 6 feet between adults and kids, when masks are off, and in large, crowded areas such as auditoriums.
Importantly, the 6 feet guideline was interpreted by groups such as the American Pediatric Association (APA) as meaning that schools could only accommodate a limited number of students, forcing most schools to adopt hybrid scheduling.
According to reports from the CDC going back to November, these schedules present challenges to the physical and mental well-being of students.
As such, national groups have advocated for reopening in-person schooling as soon as it is reasonable to do so in order to mitigate the negative impacts of school closures on kids. And even teacher-focused groups like the American Federation of Teachers, say that the goal is to get back to in-person instruction as quickly as it is safe to do.
This latest announcement brings the CDC’s recommendation closer to the World Health Organization’s recommendation which promotes physical distancing for kids of 1 meter (about 3.28 feet).
In The News
Health
Voting
Education
Large numbers of students are not returning to the classroom even as more schools reopen for full-time, in-person learning, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Biden administration. The findings reflect a nation that has been locked in debate over the safety of reopening schools... Read More
This week Americans for the Arts, a leading arts advocacy nonprofit organization, is hosting the National Arts Action Summit, a virtual week-long summit that brings together arts advocates from around the country to hear from experts on arts policy, arts education and more. The summit is... Read More
WASHINGTON — Online education had been on the rise for several years prior to COVID-19, but the pandemic fast-tracked a sudden pivot to emergency remote instruction. Over the past year, more students and faculty experienced and gained confidence in online modes of instruction, but at the... Read More
This week, the Hunt Institute, a non-profit that brings together people and resources to inform elected officials and policymakers about key issues in education, hosted a webinar discussing how students with disabilities could be better served during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion was moderated... Read More
WASHINGTON — A majority of justices, representing both sides of the High Court’s ideological divide, appeared ready during oral arguments on Wednesday to allow college athletes to be compensated monetarily for their efforts. In doing so, they also signaled they didn’t buy the NCAA’s argument that... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — The NCAA and former college athletes are getting ready to play ball at the Supreme Court. With the March Madness basketball tournament ongoing, the high court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case about how colleges can reward athletes who play Division I... Read More
