CDC Eases Key Rule on Social Distancing

By Michael Rainey

CDC Eases Rules on Distancing in
Schools

Elementary school students can sit 3 feet from each other
in classrooms as long as they are wearing masks, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. The agency said it
was relaxing its guidelines after new research showed that the old
standard of 6 feet between students was unnecessary in many
educational settings.

The new 3-foot rule applies to all elementary schools, and
also to middle and high schools in communities with moderate levels
of spread of Covid-19. Older students in communities with high
levels of viral spread should stay 6 feet apart, the CDC said, as
should all adults working in schools.

“These updated recommendations provide the evidence-based
road map to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for
in-person instruction,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in
a
statement.

Pressure to reopen: President Joe Biden has called
for the majority of schools to reopen and return to full schedules,
and CDC’s updated guidelines will make it easier for local school
districts to hit that target. The issue has been a flashpoint
throughout the country, with some experts questioning the CDC’s
stringent guidelines and many parents calling for a full
reopening.

But there is still resistance from some groups, including
the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, which have questioned
the guidelines’ applicability to older, more crowded, and poorly
ventilated schools in urban settings. “We need to make sure that
before we do any changing or easing up of the mitigation strategies
that we are making sure we have evidence from those diverse
populations,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education
Association,
told The Washington Post. Randi Weingarten,
president of the American Federation of Teachers, said she would
“reserve judgment” on the new guidelines pending further
review.

The bottom line: Most schools are currently open on
at least a partial basis, and the CDC’s ruling should speed the
process of getting more students back into classrooms this spring.
“I’m hopeful that we are turning a corner on this pandemic,” the
CDC’s Walensky said. “Getting our children back to school in-person
instruction as soon as possible is a critical first step in doing
so.”

Chart of the Day: Big Boom Soon?

“The U.S. economic recovery is picking up steam as Americans
increase their spending, particularly on in-person services that
were battered by the coronavirus pandemic,” The Wall Street Journal

reported Friday. Taking note of the increased
activity, which is expected to get another boost from President
Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, economists surveyed by the
Journal in March once again raised their estimate for growth in
2021 to 5.95% on average, up from a 4.87% projection a month ago.
(The rate estimate is measured from fourth-quarter 2020 to
fourth-quarter 2021.)

If the estimate pans out, growth will hit its highest level in
nearly 40 years. “You’re looking at the biggest surge in economic
growth that most people who are working today have ever experienced
in their working lives,” Tim Quinlan of Wells Fargo Securities told
the Journal.

IRS Warns of Possible Delays in
Anti-Poverty Program

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig warned Congress that his agency
may have a hard time executing a new program designed to reduce
child poverty.

In testimony Thursday in front of the House Ways and Means
Committee, Rettig said the tax agency is struggling with a massive
backlog of tax returns and recent rule changes, including the
extension of the tax filing deadline. On top of those significant
challenges, Congress recently authorized an expansion of the child
tax credit system, which requires the IRS to send checks to
millions of households starting in July.

Through the new tax credit, which was part of the $1.9 trillion
stimulus bill Democrats pushed through Congress last week, eligible
families will receive refundable tax credits of $3,600 for children
under the age of 6 and $3,000 for those aged 6 to 17. The credits
are to be paid out on a regular basis, unlike more typical tax
credits that come into play only when tax returns are filed.

Rettig told lawmakers that the IRS may not have enough staff to
set up a new website that will serve as a communications hub for
households and the government, enabling individuals to provide key
information such as income or marital status. Pushing the tax
deadline back a month means that the agency now has “one month less
to do the development” necessary to create that crucial
communications portal, Rettig said.

A key issue is the timing of the payments, which was left
ambiguous in the program’s authorization. Proponents want checks
sent out on a monthly basis, but Rettig said that it “might be a
challenge to get into monthly right out of the box.” Nevertheless,
“we intend to do our best to get there,” he added.

Why it matters: The effectiveness of the child tax
credit, which proponents say could cut child poverty in half,
depends on successful implementation by an already overburdened
IRS. More broadly, the issue highlights the enormous challenges
facing the new administration in implementing new programs
quickly.

“Rettig’s comments Thursday illustrate the massive undertaking
that awaits the Biden administration as it seeks to bring online
one of the largest rescue packages in U.S. history,” The Washington
Post’s Tony Room
wrote. “The government must distribute aid to
states and localities, send funds to schools and public health
agencies in need, and dispatch another round of stimulus payments,
all the while rethinking elements of the tax code — right in the
middle of a still-evolving pandemic.”

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