New guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying students who wear face masks in class can sit 3 feet apart conflicts with state regulations, a local superintendent said.

The CDC on Friday said it is updating its COVID-19 guidance for grades K-12 to reflect the latest science on physical distancing between students in classrooms.

In elementary schools, students should remain at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where mask use is universal, regardless of whether community transmission is low, moderate, substantial or high.

In middle and high schools, the CDC also recommends students should be at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where mask use is universal and in communities where transmission is low, moderate, or substantial, but the distance should be 6 feet if the transmission level is high and cohorting is not possible.

Cohorting is when groups of students are kept together with the same peers and staff throughout the school day to reduce the risk for spread throughout the school. Older students are more likely to be exposed to and spread the coronavirus than younger children, the CDC said.

Butler Area School District Superintendent Brian White said the CDC guidance conflicts with state regulations saying that a student who comes within 6 feet of another student with a possible case of the coronavirus must be excluded from school.

“If one tests positive, you'd be excluded,” White said. “It's been very disruptive for some families.”

He said he hopes the Pennsylvania Department of Health updates its guidelines to match those from the CDC.

“If not, we'll have to make a decision on our own,” White said.

The health department on Friday said all 94,600 doses in the initial allocation of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be administered to teachers and school staff by Sunday, nearly two weeks before the original goal of the end of the month. As of Friday morning, 83,859 school employees had been vaccinated.

In addition, the state received 13,000 more doses last week for a total of 107,600 and will request another 13,000 this week. The vast majority of educators and support staff who wish to receive a vaccination will have been vaccinated by the end of the month, the department said.

Also Friday, three new deaths in the county and a slight increase in COVID-19 patients at Butler Memorial Hospital were reported.

The new deaths bring the county total since the pandemic began to 381, according to the health department. One death was reported at BMH March 18. Statewide, 35 new deaths raised the total to 24,741.

The hospital said it is treating 11 COVID-19 patients, including five in the intensive care unit. On Wednesday, the hospital reported seven patients, including three in intensive care.

The 25 new cases in the county increase the total to 9,323 and the 3,455 new cases statewide increase the total to 980,302 since the pandemic began. The county has a population of 187,853, and the state population is 12.8 million.

Vaccine providers have administered 4,043,398 total doses, including 2,699,008 first and single doses and 1,344,373 second doses.

With an average of 83,000 people getting vaccinated every day, 1,428,867 people are fully vaccinated and 1,270,141 people are partially vaccinated, meaning they have received one dose of a two-dose vaccine.

Combining those fully vaccinated and those who have received one dose means 2,699,008 people in the state population of 12.8 million have received at least one dose of vaccine.

In licensed nursing and personal care homes, 68,798 residents and 13,994 employees have had COVID-19. Of the total 24,741 deaths in the state, 12,827 have been nursing or personal care home residents.