The California Department of Public Health released new guidelines Saturday for reopening classrooms across the state, allowing students to sit three feet apart instead of six.
The move comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its distancing requirements on Friday, and following continued calls from doctors and activists. Schools across California have been closed for over a year now due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UCSF's Dr. Jeanne Noble said the change will make it easier for most schools to have the ability to reopen.
"Given the larger class size in middle and high school, the 6-foot rule was barring our adolescents from school returns or forcing them into really limited hybrid schedules," she told KCBS Radio. "With the distancing requirement now reduced from 6 feet to 3 feet, almost all schools can physically accommodate a return to full in-person instruction at all grade levels."
She noted that the science backs up the change.
"We had a large study in Massachusetts, where half a million children were followed," Dr. Noble said. "Schools that followed a three-foot rule versus a six-foot rule showed absolutely no difference in school-based transmission."
The updated guidance from the state now allows schools to open if county case rates are below 25 per 100,000 residents.
Schools that have not reopened yet in all tiers must post their COVID Safety Plan online five days before reopening, officials said.
However, the return to the classroom is still contingent on local agreements between districts and teachers unions. Many agreements stipulate six feet of distance between desks.
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