CDC Issues Newest Guidance Yet For Reopening Schools

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its much-anticipated, updated guidance Friday to help school leaders decide how to safely bring students back into classrooms, or keep them there. Rather than a political push to reopen schools, the update is a measured, data-driven effort to expand on old recommendations and advise school leaders on how to "layer" the most effective safety precautions: masking, physical distancing, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, ventilation and building cleaning, and contact tracing.

For politicians, parents and school leaders looking for a clear green light to reopen schools, this is not it.

"CDC is not mandating that schools reopen," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday on a phone briefing with reporters.

Instead, the CDC goes to great lengths to explain that proper mitigation can help keep kids and staff safe at school, even in hard-hit communities, though it also warns that schools lulled into a false sense of security because of low community transmission rates could still spread the virus if they don't enforce mask-wearing and socially distanced classrooms.

The updated guidance comes as President Biden tries to make good on his promise to see more schools reopen within his first 100 days in office. School reopening has become a potent political battle between parents and educators. In Washington, Republicans have used it to criticize the Biden administration for bowing to pressure from a powerful interest group: teachers unions.

Color-coded zones

The update offers a few key changes to earlier language, including a color-coded chart that divides schools' reopening options into four zones: blue, yellow, orange and red. Districts with low community spread of the coronavirus (blue, 0-9 new cases per 100,000 in past 7 days) or moderate transmission (yellow, 10-49 new cases) are encouraged to consider reopening for full, in-person learning.

Schools in areas with substantial transmission (orange, 50-99 new cases per 100,000) may still consider a limited reopening, as long as they can layer multiple safety strategies in the classroom. In hard-hit communities (red, more than 100 new cases per 100,000) elementary schools may consider limited reopening, with physical distancing required, but the CDC recommends middle and high schools be virtual-only unless mitigation strategies can be met.

The added clarity comes as school leaders have clamored for more practical information about how schools can reopen, especially if they can't afford all of the CDC's recommended safety strategies. For example, before Friday's release, Noelle Ellerson Ng, of The School Superintendents Association (AASA), wrote to the U.S. Department of Education seeking clarity for schools that don't have room to space children the recommended 6 feet apart: ...