Revised K-12 School COVID-19 Prevention Recommendations Issued

K-12 students in the USA can now sit just 3 feet apart in classrooms as long as they wear masks. And classrooms can remove physical barriers, announced the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 prevention guidelines issued on March 19, 2021.

The revised CDC recommendations represent a turn away from the 6-foot standard that has limited how many students schools can accommodate.

A highlighted area of concern is internal air ventilation.

Improve ventilation to the extent possible to increase circulation of outdoor air, increase the delivery of clean air, and dilute potential contaminants. This can be achieved through several actions, such as:

• Bring in as much outdoor air as possible.
• Ensure Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning settings are maximizing ventilation.
• Filter and/or clean the air in the school by improving the level of filtration as much as possible.
• Use exhaust fans in restrooms and kitchens.
• Open windows in buses and other transportation, if doing so does not pose a safety risk. Even just cracking windows open a few inches improves air circulation.

The CDC confirmed existing evidence suggests many K-12 schools that have strictly implemented prevention strategies have been able to open for in-person instruction and remain open safely. All prevention strategies provide some level of protection, and layered strategies implemented simultaneously provide the greatest level of protection, said the CDC.