How safe are school buses when it comes to COVID-19 transmission?

OVER a seven-month period, US researchers investigated the number of COVID-19 infections originating from bus rides to and from school. They found that, during this time, none of the positive cases identified were linked to school transportation.

Does sending your child to school on the bus increase ther risk of catching covid-19? To find out, researchers at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters analyzed the school bus rides of children attending an independent school in Virginia. The study is published in the Journal of School Health.

Between August 28, 2020, and March 19, 2021, the school subjected its 1,154 students to regular PCR testing. To measure the number of infections within the school bus service, specialists specifically tracked the 462 students, ages 6 to 18, who used the school's 15 buses.

"The pandemic has made it very difficult for public schools to meet the transportation needs of students. Many districts simply do not have enough buses and drivers to allow distancing of 3-6 feet or skipping of bus rows while still providing rides to all children," explains Dana Ramirez, a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia.

The buses were operating at near capacity, with two students in every seat, maintaining a physical distancing minimum of 2.5 feet. To limit the spread of the virus, passengers wore masks. The buses also operated basic ventilation techniques.

To limit entry to potentially infected students, temperature checks were conducted before entering the bus. In addition, families were encouraged to self-report symptoms.

During the period of study, there were 39 infectious COVID-19 cases who were present on buses, resulting in the quarantine of 52 students. After tracing the infection, the researchers noted that transmission was not linked to bus travel.

"While this study is a small sample size of 462 students over a seven-month period, there were no identified cases of spread among passengers, which suggests that universal masking and open ventilation alone may be sufficient to limit covid-19 transmission for school busing," the study reports.