The New Three Feet Guidelines: an explanation
This COVID world is an ever-shifting landscape, with guidelines and rules differing between organizations and even within organizations. This is reflective of the nature of science – as we learn more, we make adaptations. The goal is always to use the best information available at any given time.
To this end, the Center for Disease Control, on March 19, 2021, recommended that it is okay for K-12 schools to keep appropriately masked students three feet apart. This seems to fly in the face of the standard “six feet recommendations” that many of us have been following for the past year. Here is an explanation of the change.
Initially, the pattern of COVID spread was unknown but presumed airborne. Past studies have suggested that airborne viruses typically travel three to six feet – and this is likely the reason for the initial six foot bubbles recommended by the CDC for the majority of the last year.
We now know that COVID is transmitted through aerosolized particles that can travel further – but given that the guidelines appeared to be working, no change was made.
Two major organizations have been recommending three feet separation for almost a year. The World Health Organization has been recommending one meter (or 3.3 feet and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been recommending a minimum of three feet since June of 2020. They based these recommendations on evidence from a series of international and national studies. These studies demonstrated that when 3 feet of distance was maintained, as well as universal masking, hand washing, and other good hygiene techniques there was no significant difference in disease spread rates between three feet and six feet.*
It is unclear why the CDC did not follow these guidelines initially. However, after an additional study was published in late March, 2021 that concluded that “lower physical distancing policies can be adopted in school settings with masking mandates without negatively impacting student or staff safety”*, the CDC updated its recommendations to allow three feet as standard social distancing in schools. Basically, this study supported that schools are not a major source of transmission, whether three feet or six feet of social distancing was maintained.
There are, of course, exceptions to the three feet recommendations. Per CDC guidelines: in communities with high transmission rates, six feet of social distancing should remain between students if they are not in cohorts, and adults should continue to maintain six feet between themselves and students.
For many communities, this new CDC recommendation is paving the way to further school re-opening. As a pediatrician, I applaud this reopening for many reasons (from emotional to social to educational). As a parent, I am doing cartwheels!!!
For more information, please link to the following articles:
*https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/06/26/schoolreopening062620
**https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab230/6167856
