Social distancing down from 6 to 3 feet in New Canaan Schools
New Canaan has a low infection rate and a high vaccination rate, with an 83.9 percent rate for children 12 to 17 years old, one of the highest in the state.
NEW CANAAN — The superintendent announced earlier this week that the district will be reducing the space of social distancing from six feet to three feet consistent with the Center of Disease Control’s new guidance.
“The really important thing” about new guidance for the the 2021-22 school year is the shift from six feet to three feet, “as long as the students are wearing masks,” Luizzi told the Board of Education.
Students will be required to wear masks in schools at least until Sept. 30, in accordance to Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order, Luizzi said.
Last year, schools attempted to uphold a sixfoot sphere of space around all children and adults. When a person tested positive for COVID-19, contact tracing would be conducted to find everyone who had entered that person’s six-foot sphere for 15 minutes or more and those people would be quarantined.
The district had 371 cases of COVID-19 during the last school year which resulted in 2,234 quarantines, according to “COVID-19 Data Highlights,” issued by the Board of Education.
The reduced need for space between pupils is a “pretty significant change” that “would really make a difference when you think about the number of students who would need to be quarantined,” Luizzi said.
The Centers for Disease Control guidance points to students keeping a six-foot distance in common areas, such as school lobbies and auditoriums; when masks cannot be worn, such as when students are eating; and during activities when increased exhalation is needed such as during sports, band practice, singing, shouting or exercise.
“These activities should be moved outdoors or to large, well-ventilated spaces whenever possible,” the CDC says.
The CDC has updated guidance for K–12 school “to reflect the latest science on physical distance between students in classrooms,” the website states. It recommends students maintain a distance of at least three feet if students are wearing masks, “regardless of whether community transmission” is high or low.
New Canaan has a low infection rate and a high vaccination rate, with an 83.9 percent rate for children 12 to 17 years old, one of the highest in the state.
“It is critical for K–12 schools to open and remain open for in-person instruction as safely and as soon as possible,” according to the CDC. “Schools should be the last settings to close because of COVID-19 and the first to reopen when they can do so safely.”