The CDC’s latest school guidelines are not perfect, but they’re better than expected

The CDC also takes a bold approach to surveillance testing, going so far as to say that unvaccinated children should be tested once a week except in areas of the lowest levels of community transmission. Unvaccinated teachers and staff should be tested, too, and kids engaged in higher-risk extracurricular activities may even be tested twice a week. This substantial ramp-up in testing is an important method to reduce disease transmission. In most schools, bringing all students back to full-time, in-person learning means that six-foot distancing is no longer possible. Testing becomes a necessary additional layer of protection to identify cases early and prevent outbreaks.