81 FR 52872 - Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 154 (August 10, 2016)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on Information Collection on Feasibility of Social Distancing Measures in K-12 Schools in the United States, which is being conducted to determine if the implementation of social distancing strategies other than school closures can be accomplished without causing major detrimental effects to ongoing education activities.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 10, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52872-52873]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18939]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-16-16AXB; Docket No. CDC-2016-0076]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on Information 
Collection on Feasibility of Social Distancing Measures in K-12 Schools 
in the United States, which is being conducted to determine if the 
implementation of social distancing strategies other than school 
closures can be accomplished without causing major detrimental effects 
to ongoing education activities.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 11, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-
0076 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below. Comments are invited on: 
(a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of 
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide 
information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose 
or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the 
time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and 
utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, 
validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining 
information, and disclosing and providing information; to train 
personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to 
search data sources, to complete and review the collection of 
information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Proposed Project

    Feasibility of Social Distancing Measures in K-12 Schools in the 
United States--New--National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic 
Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Global Migration and 
Quarantine (DGMQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National 
Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division 
of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ), requests approval of a new 
information collection to identify social distancing strategies to 
reduce person-to-person contact among students and staff in K-12 
schools that are implementable without causing major detrimental 
effects to ongoing education activities. CDC is requesting a one-year 
approval to collect information.
    The information collection for which approval is sought is in 
accordance with DGMQ/CDC's mission to reduce morbidity and mortality in 
mobile populations, and to prevent the introduction, transmission, or 
spread of communicable diseases within the United States. Insights 
gained from this information collection will assist in the planning and 
implementation of CDC Pre-Pandemic Community Mitigation Guidance on the 
use of school-based measures to slow transmission during an influenza 
pandemic.
    School-aged children are often the main introducers and an 
important transmission source of influenza and other respiratory 
viruses in their families, and school-based outbreaks frequently pre-
date wide-spread influenza transmission in the surrounding communities. 
Therefore, infection control measures undertaken to reduce virus 
transmission among children at schools may also help prevent or 
postpone influenza outbreaks in communities. In respiratory 
transmission of influenza, proximity to the person with influenza plays 
a significant role. Strategies that increase physical distance between 
students and/or reduce the duration of person to person contact in 
school settings may, theoretically, be effective in slowing influenza 
transmission. There have been no evaluations to date of feasibility of 
implementing social distancing measures other than school closures. 
Therefore, there is a need to research

[[Page 52873]]

alternative social distancing strategies that can help reduce influenza 
transmission in schools while minimizing social and economic burdens on 
the community.
    CDC staff proposes that the information collection for this package 
will target senior educators in each of the 10 HHS regions. CDC will 
collect qualitative data on current knowledge, attitudes, and practices 
with regard to organizing and delivering K-12 instruction in ways that 
help increase space between students and/or reduce daily duration of 
in-person instruction, while preserving the normal education process; 
this will be accomplished through focus group discussions.
    Findings obtained from this information collection will be used to 
inform the update CDC's Pre-pandemic Community Mitigation Guidance on 
the implementation of school related measures to prevent the spread of 
influenza. This Guidance is used as an important planning and reference 
tool for both State and local health departments in the United States.
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time. The 
estimated annualized burden hours for this data collection are 1,400 
hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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Senior educators (e.g. school   Social                       700               1               2           1,400
 principals, superintendents,    Distancing
 teachers, senior leaders from   Questionnaire
 state agencies, etc.).          Form.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,400
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Health Scientist, Acting Chief, Information Collection Review Office, 
Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for 
Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2016-18939 Filed 8-9-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P