July 12, 2021 — School may be out for summer, but the CDC is still in session. The agency recently released updated guidance that promotes in-person learning when K-12 students return in the fall, and relaxed mask recommendations for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Children and adolescents benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person school in the fall of 2021 is a priority,” the CDC said in a July 9 statement.
Why now? The federal agency cites “widespread availability of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 12 and older [as well as] recent reductions in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.”
But some states are already saying they’ll continue to require masks. Take California, for example, where health officials said masks will continue to be required in schools despite the CDC’s new guidance.
“Masking is a simple and effective intervention that does not interfere with offering full in-person instruction,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Mark Ghaly, according to the Los Angeles Times. “At the outset of the new year, students should be able to walk into school without worrying about whether they will feel different or singled out for being vaccinated or unvaccinated — treating all kids the same will support a calm and supportive school environment.”
That said, masks asks are still recommended for anyone aged 2 years or older, including students, who is not vaccinated, according to the CDC.
“While fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared with adults, children can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, can get sick from COVID-19, can spread the virus to others, and can have severe outcomes,” the CDC statement notes.
“As a parent and ID physician, I am concerned. I had a feeling that this decision was coming soon. I have children under 12 years old who are not yet eligible for vaccine and it’s unclear to me when the [FDA’s emergency use authorization] will be expanded to the entire pediatric population. Adolescents rank among the lowest in terms of vaccine uptake,” says Priya Nori, MD, an infectious disease physician at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx, New York.
“This group as well as other unvaccinated populations are driving the spread of the delta variant throughout the US. Based on low vaccine uptake, and increasing rates of the highly transmissible delta variant, how can we feel confident that lifting masking in schools is the right decision? It also puts our educators in an unfair position. These decisions also have not been backed up with mandates to ensure vaccination status in schools,” she says.
