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As infection rates decline and more teachers receive vaccines, one of the biggest obstacles to reopening schools is the difficulty of spacing students six feet apart, as recommended by the federal and state health authorities.
These tips have meant that fewer children can be in a classroom at the same time, so schools must rotate students in smaller teams while others continue to study online at home. But new research suggests that three feet of space between students is enough to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in schools.
Now health experts and many parents are calling on the California Department of Public Health to revise its six-foot guidelines, as has Illinois and Massachusetts, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. United States.
“Our evidence shows that schools operate similarly safely with three feet, not six,” said Emily Oster, professor of economics and public policy at Brown University who was among the authors of a study this week.
He found no significant difference in infection rates for K-12 students and staff at Massachusetts public schools, whether they implemented three-foot or six-foot student spacing. when other measures such as universal masking have been implemented.
And Oster, who oversaw the school’s reopening nationwide via the covidexplained.org website, said that given the constraints imposed by the six-foot-distancing rules on school attendance, “he may be wise to relax them. “
This week’s study isn’t the only research supporting closer student spacing in schools. A January study of in-person learning in 17 rural Wisconsin schools found no teachers and only seven of 4,876 students were infected at school, and most elementary students studied were three to six feet apart. .
“More than three feet is fine,” said Dr. Monica Ghandi, an epidemiologist at the University of California at San Francisco, who this week joined a study co-author from Wisconsin and two other experts from health in a column calling the American centers. for disease control and prevention to relax its guidelines for reopening schools.
Although the CDC and the California Department of Public Health don’t insist on 6-foot spacing in schools, they have maintained this distance as ideal. The CDC states that “physical distance (at least 6 feet) should be maximized where possible.”
California’s most recent directive, issued Jan. 14, is to “distance the desks of teachers and other staff by at least 6 feet … unless a 6-foot distance is not possible after exertion. in good faith “and” in no case the distance between the students the chairs measure less than 4 feet. The World Health Organization, however, recommends “at least 1 meter for students (all age groups) and staff, if possible,” which equates to a few centimeters over three feet.
Troy Flint, spokesperson for the California School Boards Association, said clearer guidelines allowing for closer spacing would make it much easier to reopen, and in particular to get kids back to school full time, as opposed to the format ” hybrid ”part-time that most California schools have used to resume. in-person learning.
During a webinar this week on the state’s recently passed reopening legislation, several administrators raised questions about conflicting distancing guidelines, he said. Classrooms typically have 20 to 30 students and space is limited.
“Figuring out which standard you are using and communicating the reasons for it and getting buy-in from families and district staff has been a challenge,” said Flint.
Adding to the confusion is that, as has often been the case with the pandemic, not all experts agree. In the fall, studies cast doubt that even six feet are safe enough, with some reporting the airborne virus could travel 20 feet or more in poorly ventilated environments. These experts noted that the three to six foot recommendations are rooted in late 19th century research into pathogens found in visible respiratory droplets.
Lydia Bourouiba, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who co-authored an August research paper on distance counseling and an opinion piece this week, said she would not trust the distance of 3 feet.
“Three feet is not recommended unless it has been carefully evaluated for a particular room, activity and high quality masking is in place at all times,” said Bourouiba, director of the Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at disease transmission. “The risk of exposure to the cool, dense breathing zone of others is too high at three feet.”
Teachers’ unions, whose safety concerns have slowed the reopening of schools, are already pushing back Chicago after Illinois reduced its minimum spacing requirement this week. Claudia Briggs, spokesperson for the California Teachers Association, noted that ventilation, mask quality and length of exposure are all risk factors.
“We know that the quality of ventilation and filtration in school buildings has been neglected for years,” said Briggs.
But parents worried about the effect of prolonged online learning on their children’s education and emotional health are frustrated that state officials are ignoring the latest science and hanging on to it. tips that will keep students from going to class for a good part of the week, if not entirely.
Jolanka Nickerman, mother of two first- and third-year daughters at Albany Unified, said her district is already planning one of the area’s most limited hybrid schedules and the six-foot guidelines reduce the prospects of a reopening complete.
“If we don’t get to four feet,” Nickerman said, “we won’t be able to accommodate all the students in a classroom.”
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