WASHINGTON — Having students sit 6 feet apart in classrooms, as opposed to 3, offers no greater protection against the coronavirus, according to a major new study, whose findings come as schools across the U.S. struggle to reopen amid debates over safety.
President Biden has made bringing students back into classrooms a priority. The debate over classroom spacing is complicating those efforts. With these new findings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may come under pressure to revise its guidelines, which currently call for 6 feet of spacing in most situations.
Having desks spaced only 3 feet apart would allow a greater number of students to sit in each classroom.