Centers for Disease Control says vaccinated teachers, students no longer need masks in school

Vaccinated teachers and students don't need to wear masks inside school buildings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

In a guidance released Friday, the CDC called a return to in-person learning "a priority." 

USA Today reports the changes come amid a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 are eligible to get shots, as well as a general decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.

The nation's top public health agency is not advising schools to require shots for teachers and vaccine-eligible kids. And it's not offering guidance on how teachers can know which students are vaccinated or how parents will know which teachers are immunized.

Schools should continue to space kids — and their desks — 3 feet apart in classrooms, the CDC says. But the agency emphasized spacing should not be an obstacle to getting kids back in schools. And it said distancing is not required among fully vaccinated students or staff.

The new guidance also says:

• No one at schools needs to wear masks at recess or in most other outdoor situations. However, unvaccinated people are advised to wear masks if they are in a crowd for an extended period of time, like in the stands at a football game.
• Ventilation and hand-washing continue to be important. Students and staff also should stay home when they are sick.
• Testing remains an important way to prevent outbreaks. But the CDC also says people who are fully vaccinated do not need to participate in such screening.
• Separating students into smaller groups, or cohorts, continues to be a good way to help reduce spread of the virus. But the CDC discouraged putting vaccinated and unvaccinated kids in separate groups, saying schools shouldn't stigmatize any group or perpetuate academic, racial or other tracking.