The new study, published last week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases ..(see below).. suggests students can return to school with only 3 feet of separation, instead of the normal "6 feet" social distancing that we all know of. Nothing official has come from the CDC but Dr Fauci and others are looking into it.
Asked on CNN's "State of the Union" show whether that meant that a three-foot separation was sufficient, Fauci replied, "It does, indeed."
Results
Among 251 eligible school districts, 537,336 students and 99,390 staff attended in-person instruction during the 16-week study period, representing 6,400,175 student learning weeks and 1,342,574 staff learning weeks. Student case rates were similar in the 242 districts with ≥3 feet versus ≥6 feet of physical distancing between students (IRR, 0.891, 95% CI, 0.594-1.335); results were similar after adjusting for community incidence (adjusted IRR, 0.904, 95% CI, 0.616-1.325). Cases among school staff in districts with ≥3 feet versus ≥6 feet of physical distancing were also similar (IRR, 1.015, 95% CI, 0.754-1.365).
Conclusions
Lower physical distancing policies can be adopted in school settings with masking mandates without negatively impacting student or staff safety.