School district serving children of many CDC employees switches to 3 feet of physical distancing

Amidst rancorous debate over how much physical distancing should be practiced in United States classrooms during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, City Schools of Decatur — an Atlanta-area school district serving an affluent suburb home to many Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists — has just announced they will be switching from six to three feet of physical distancing in order to accommodate more classroom learners (emphasis mine):

The week after Spring Break (April 12), we will invite any virtual students in grades K-5 to return in person and the following week (April 19), we will combine groups A and B in grades 6–8 and 9–12. This will be the final change for this school year.

To implement these two changes, we will modify one of our mitigation measures. Beginning April 12 at grades K-5 and April 19 at grades 6–12, we will implement a 3-foot social distancing standard, rather than the current 6-foot standard, to the greatest extent possible. This change is supported by newly released research and is a practice that has been successfully used in other parts of the world for months.

The school district notes that three feet of distancing “has been successfully used in other parts of the world for months” — and this includes the European Union. European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) guidance doesn’t even specify a specific distance, but argues the…