CA shifts to 3-foot desk spacing in school reopening plan

California — California is quickly reopening its K-12 campus, so the state relaxed important guidelines on Saturday to allow students to sit three feet apart in the classroom.

Change We recommend reducing the spacing from 6 feet to 3 feet, reflecting the newly updated guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was updated on Friday.

“We are pursuing science,” said Dr. Rochelle Warrensky, director of the CDC, at a press conference on Friday. “We have seen the science to make sure this is safe for schools.”

However, district officials will ultimately decide whether to adopt the revision.

Paul Simon, Chief Scientific Officer of Los Angeles County, reported that Santa Monica Press Daily said, “We haven’t discussed this internally yet, but we’ve turned that CDC guidance into our own guidance. I am confident that it will be incorporated. “

However, Austin Beutner told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday that campuses within the Los Angeles Unified School will reopen with a six-foot interval rule.

The district is the second largest school system in the country and was scheduled to reopen in mid-April due to lower cases and increased vaccinations in Southland. The county was formerly known as the state’s coronavirus epicenter.

In San Francisco, officials said: Desks may be 4 feet apart “If you need to allow full face-to-face attendance,” according to guidance from the county health department. The county has not yet announced whether to update the guidance again.

In San Diego, classrooms were scheduled to reopen around April 12.

“That means we keep thinking How to be safe in the classroom “Environment.” Nerell Winter, principal of the Bostonian Langer Academy in El Cahon, told KPBS on Friday.

The CDC also states that certain settings require a distance of 6 feet, such as eating, singing, playing sports, sitting in common areas, or while adults and students interact.

In elementary school, the CDC advised that as long as students and teachers wear masks, there should be at least three feet of space between desks, even in large communities of towns and cities.

The CDC recommends 3 feet on junior high and high school campuses, unless the community has a high level of expanse. In some cases, you need to maintain a distance of 6 feet.

California’s new guidance also warns that the 6-foot spacing rule may be upheld if “mask compliance is questionable.”

Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 9,000 of the state’s schools have reopened or will resume direct instruction by May.

However, desk spacing has become a major issue for health and education leaders as the state is resuming plans. Reducing the space between desks can allow more students to fit in the classroom, but not everyone is convinced that it is safe to move forward.

“”Physical distance is a big barrier According to CalMatters, Dr. Jeanne Noble, Director of COVID-19 Response at UC San Francisco’s Emergency Department, said:

“So it’s time to look carefully at the data and say it’s necessary, because it doesn’t send millions of kids to full-time school. The data says masking is really the key to this. It shows that it is not necessary. “

As of Sunday, approximately 88% of Californians lived in the red layer under lighter coronavirus restrictions, as cases continued to be classified as golden state. The state has been at a rapid pace of resumption since it accelerated the deployment of the first failed vaccine.

Newsam said on Friday that supply is still a big issue, but everyone in California could qualify for a shot by May.

“We expect to eliminate all stratification, so to speak, and make the vaccine available to everyone in the entire spectrum, as supply grows exponentially, within five and a half weeks,” he said. I told the group.

Newsom announced on Sunday that it had recorded a record week for the state to inoculate residents, Administered 5 million More shots than any other state.

The state reported 3,350 new coronavirus cases, a 1.8% positive rate, and 14,520,575 vaccinations previously administered on Sunday.