Coronavirus

What's The Risk Of Riding The School Bus?

In our series "What's the Risk?" experts weigh in on what risks different scenarios pose for transmitting COVID-19.

What's The Risk Of Riding The School Bus?
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As the school year starts, you might be wondering about the risks of getting sick with COVID-19.  

We asked the experts, what's the risk of riding the bus?

Their take: The risk of contracting COVID-19 from riding the bus is high risk.

"The bus is a very small, confined space. And boy, does what this virus really enjoys, small, confined spaces with not so good ventilation," Cleveland Clinic pediatric infectious diseases specialist Dr. Frank Esper said.

"When we ride the bus, we like to do a lot of talking and laughing. So that is definitely an activity. Definitely recommend wearing masks when riding the bus to and from school or going to different activities for riding the public transportation as well," said Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, an infectious disease specialist at Nebraska Medical Center.

"If you have a bus that is full of 40 students that have been riding together for 40 minutes, that is going to be a very dicey situation. But I think that as some districts are starting to see that their buses should have about 12 students on them, that there should be one student, every other seat, then I think that if you would have the windows down, I think that that is a less risky situation," Annette Anderson, deputy director for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Safe and Healthy Schools told Newsy.

For more answers on what is low, medium, or high risk, visit newsy.com/whatstherisk.