CDC issues new masks guidelines in schools

Vaccinated students do not have to wear masks to school this fall, unless they take the school bus or their school decides otherwise, according to new guidelines released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control. and Prevention.

The new federal guidelines are not mandatory, but are expected to influence school officials, local health departments and governors who are preparing to return students to full-time class this fall.

The recommendation could also encourage parents who were previously undecided. Children over 12 are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two doses three weeks apart.

“Achieving high levels of COVID-19 immunization among eligible students as well as teachers, staff and household members is one of the most critical strategies to help schools return to school safely,” the CDC said.

The CDC recommendations specifically call on unvaccinated students and staff to continue to wear masks and encourage schools to offer voluntary routine testing at least once a week. It also encourages a 3-foot distance among unvaccinated children in the classroom, but says this recommendation should not prevent classrooms from reopening.

The CDC also recommends that all bus drivers and their passengers – vaccinated or not – wear a mask when traveling to school.

The biggest sticking point for schools will probably be requiring proof of vaccination. Most schools already require proof of childhood vaccination with a few exceptions.

The CDC, which does not set vaccination requirements for schools or daycares, makes it clear in its recommendations that it will be up to schools and local authorities to decide what to do. The agency specifically notes that schools may opt for a universal masking policy, especially if they have unvaccinated populations and don’t want to require verification that a person has been vaccinated.

“We allow flexibility in our guidance,” said Captain Erin Sauber-Schatz, who helped draft the guidelines as a member of the CDC’s COVID response team.

In the end, “it is really about protecting people who are not yet eligible for the vaccine because of their age, or people who are not yet fully vaccinated,” she added.

The Biden administration has said it will not pursue a federal mandate for vaccines and is leaving schools and businesses to decide what to apply. But he called for the mask to be worn universally, even among vaccinated people, on planes, trains, buses and other public transport because of the risk of the variants spreading during travel.

So far, many companies have been reluctant to impose vaccines or demand proof, creating a sort of honor system. Health experts say that could change in a few months if federal regulators give full approval to the vaccines, which are currently distributed under emergency authorization.

It’s likely that many schools will set their own policies anyway, even ignoring CDC guidelines.

In Arizona, the Chandler Unified School District, which again welcomes students on July 21 – one of the country’s earliest start dates – had already decided that masks would be voluntary when Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law banning them. local counties and school districts to require students or staff to wear face coverings.

Sauber-Schatz said the CDC’s goal was to write guidelines usable for all schools, even jurisdictions that were planning to waive mask warrants.

Under the recommendations, the CDC advises schools to slowly lift COVID protocols – including for masks – if the community has low case counts and high vaccination rates; instead, areas with high cases and low vaccination rates should keep various strategies in place to prevent outbreaks, according to the CDC.

Parents should also be aware that a child is not “fully immune” until two weeks after their second injection. Since the injections are three weeks apart, that means a teenager hoping to be fully immunized by mid-August would need their first injection now.

“The message really is that if your child is eligible for the vaccine, the time to get the vaccine is now,” Sauber-Schatz said.