US weighs 3-foot distancing rule, a major change

International Live: The United States’ top pandemic advisor said Sunday that authorities were considering cutting social distancing rules to three feet (one meter), a move that would change a key tenet of the global fight against Covid-19.

Anthony Fauci, a world-respected figure during the coronavirus crisis, said experts at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were examining a Massachusetts study that found “no substantial difference” in Covid 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,” Fauci 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.

The study led by the Beth Deaconess Medical Center 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.

Dhaka, 15 March (campuslive24.com)//Mi

---

---