The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released revised guidelines on Friday that say schools across the US should reopen for in-person learning regardless of whether they can implement all the recommended Covid-19 mitigation efforts.
The revised recommendations mark the first time the CDC has taken a stance on reopening schools, which became a subject of contentious debate over the course of the pandemic. Previous recommendations included measures schools should undertake to curb the spread of the virus, but did not emphasize reopening in-person.
“Students benefit from in-person learning and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority,” the recommendation reads.
Child development experts have long said that policymakers should prioritize reopening schools for children as virtual learning can be ineffective, particularly for younger children, without the active involvement of parents.
By the end of this past school year, a slight majority of schools – 53% – had fully reopened for in-person instruction, while 46% of schools did a combination of virtual and in-person learning, according to the Center for American Progress. The remaining 1% of schools were fully online. Schools that had a majority non-white student population were slightly less likely to be fully reopened.
In the revised guidelines, the CDC says that schools “provide safe and supportive learning environments for students that support emotional development, provide access to critical services and improve life outcomes”. It also says that schools are key employers and allow parents and guardians to go to work.
The CDC cited data that has shown reopening schools did not increase Covid-19 transmission rates when multiple mitigation measures were taken. Transmission rates in schools were either lower than or similar to broader community transmission levels.
Similar to its previous recommendations on schools, the CDC recommends that schools should require all individuals to wear masks and keep at least 3ft of distance between each person indoors, along with testing and contract-tracing strategies to control the spread of Covid-19 in schools.
Many schools will probably have large populations of unvaccinated students as children under 12 are ineligible for the vaccine. Keeping additional mitigation efforts like masking and social distancing will “protect people who are not fully vaccinated”, according to the guidelines.
Though the Delta variant has raised concerns about new waves of cases, mostly among those who are unvaccinated, the vaccines available in the US have so far proven to be effective in protecting against it.
The CDC has reported that at least 80% of teachers, school staff and childcare workers received at least one short of the vaccine by April. Meanwhile, research continues to prove that children remain at much lower risks of having serious cases of Covid-19 adults.
In a statement on Friday, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teachers’ unions in the US, said the guidelines are “grounded in both science and common sense”.
“For educators across the country, this guidance sets a floor, not a ceiling,
Weingarten said. “It builds on the evidence we have about Covid transmission and reminds us that we must remain committed to other mitigation strategies so every school building is safe and welcoming for all, including those who are still too young to be vaccinated and those who cannot be.”
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