CDC now says in-person learning is safe with precautions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is possible for schools to safely reopen and limit spread of the coronavirus, something former President Donald Trump and White House advisor Dr. Scott Atlas had been calling for since Summer.

Experts have been stressing the importance of in-person learning for students’ development and access to essential services.

In one study, CDC researchers looked at schools in Wood County, Wisconsin that opened last Fall for in-person learning.

They found that COVID transmission was 37% lower in school than it was in the surrounding community.

Experts say that’s because of precautions the school took, like mandating masks and separating children into smaller groups.

They say their findings suggest students are not necessarily at increased risk for the virus if they attend classes in-person.

In this Jan. 11, 2021 file photo, pre-kindergarten teacher Angela Panush reads a story to her students at Dawes Elementary in Chicago. Chicago Public Schools should allow students back into classrooms in no more than 100 facilities and then gradually reopen others, an organization of school principals proposed Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, saying most of them doubt the nation’s third-largest school district can safely handle a mass reopening. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, Pool File)