U.S. backs distance of 3 feet between students, which may help schools open

The U.S. government on Friday updated its COVID-19 mitigation guidance to narrow the acceptable distance between students who are wearing masks to at least three feet from at least six feet, potentially easing the path for schools that have struggled to reopen under previous recommendations.

The new recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a boost to the Biden administration's goal of reopening in-person learning for millions of public school students without sparking outbreaks of the virus. "The revised CDC guidance is a great step," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. It "reflects the fact that schools... are not drivers of infections," he added.