School Reopening Guidelines Fuel Public Health Debate

Since late fall, 60,000 students and teachers across Greenville County, South Carolina, have been filing into the classroom for school the old-fashioned way: in-person, five days a week.

They've done it, Greenville superintendent Burke Royster said, by enforcing mask wearing, hand washing and social distancing -- mostly by about 3 feet with plexiglass barriers when 6 feet isn't possible -- using high-quality ventilation and launching their own contact-tracing program.

Royster said he believes his schools have lower transmission than its surrounding community -- a finding that is supported by research.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s long-awaited guidance on how to safely reopen schools during the pandemic could end up keeping kids out of the classroom longer than necessary, four doctors who reviewed the guidance told CNBC.

Many public health specialists applauded the agency last week for releasing the clearest and most comprehensive federal guidance yet on whether and to what extent schools should reopen. The 35-page document defines “essential elements” of reopening that include social distancing, universal masking and some testing. It also lays out a set of...