The United States’ top pandemic adviser said yesterday that the authorities are considering cutting social distancing rules to three feet (one metre), a move that would change a key tenet of the global fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Anthony Fauci, a world-respected figure during the coronavirus crisis, said that experts at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are examining a Massachusetts study that found “no substantial difference” in Covid-19 cases in schools observing six-foot and three-foot rules.
Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” show whether that meant that a three-foot separation was sufficient, Fauci replied: “It does, indeed.”
“The CDC is very well aware that data are accumulating making it look more like three feet are OK under certain circumstances,” he added.
While cautioning that the CDC was still weighing the data and conducting its own tests, he said its findings would come “soon”.
The six-foot social distancing rule has been a widely-adopted global measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, along with mask-wearing and hand-washing.
School officials across the world are under pressure to fully reopen as soon as safely possible, but many say the six-foot requirement makes it difficult without adding portable classrooms or shortening the school day.
Many teachers unions have also insisted on six-foot distancing.
Policies on reopening schools and businesses have varied sharply around the globe as governments try to balance quelling infections with a return to normal life.
The study led by the Beth Deaconess Medical Centre in Massachusetts, surveying 251 school districts, found “no substantial difference in the number of cases of Covid-19 among either students or staff” between those observing the three- and six-foot rules when all wore masks.
The findings, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, add to a growing body of evidence that Covid-19 transmission rates are low in schools.
A three-foot rule would have an enormous impact on prospects not only for fully reopening schools, but also for offices and even public areas such as sports venues.
The United States has the highest Covid-19 fatality toll in the world, now approaching 535,000, but it has seen case numbers and death rates fall this year.
That trend, along with a vaccination programme that has reached millions of arms – including 3mn doses on Saturday, Fauci said – has spawned growing optimism.
But with states like Texas and Maryland already easing their Covid-19 rules, Fauci warned again against Americans letting down their guard too soon.
Some European countries had done exactly that, he said, pointing to Italy’s recent re-imposition of health measures after its latest virus surge.
“It definitely is of concern,” he told CNN. “When you see a plateau at a level as high as 60,000 cases a day, that is a very vulnerable time to have a surge to go back up.”
“That’s exactly what happened in Europe,” he warned.
Separately yesterday, Fauci said that he hopes Donald Trump will push his supporters to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
In a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll released last week, about half of US men who identified themselves as Republicans said they had no plans to get the vaccine.
Asked whether Trump should speak to his supporters directly, given those poll numbers, Fauci said on the Fox News Sunday programme: “I think it would make all the difference in the world.”
Trump, Fauci said, “is a such a strongly popular person ... it would be very helpful for the effort for that to happen”.
The former president told attendees at a conservative conference last month to get vaccinated – saying: “Everybody, go get your shot” – the first time he had encouraged people to do so.
Fauci said on NBC’s Meet the Press programme: “How such a large proportion of a certain group of people would not want to get vaccinated merely because of political considerations ... it makes absolutely no sense.”
Getting the vaccine is “no brainer”, he told Meet the Press, as he listed some of the diseases that vaccines had wiped out such as smallpox.
“What is the problem here? This is a vaccine that is going to be lifesaving for millions of people,” Fauci said.
Early in the pandemic, Trump appeared at coronavirus briefings with Fauci but later turned on him.
In October, weeks after being hospitalised for three days for Covid-19 treatment, Trump criticised Fauci, saying: “Fauci is a disaster ... people are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.”