Bus Riding as Amplification Mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission, Germany, 2021 < sup > 1 < /sup >

Emerg Infect Dis. 2024 Apr;30(4):711-720. doi: 10.3201/eid3004.231299.ABSTRACTTo examine the risk associated with bus riding and identify transmission chains, we investigated a COVID-19 outbreak in Germany in 2021 that involved index case-patients among bus-riding students. We used routine surveillance data, performed laboratory analyses, interviewed case-patients, and conducted a cohort study. We identified 191 case-patients, 65 (34%) of whom were elementary schoolchildren. A phylogenetically unique strain and epidemiologic analyses provided a link between air travelers and cases among bus company staff, schoolchildren, other bus passengers, and their respective household members. The attack rate among bus-riding children at 1 school was ≈4 times higher than among children not taking a bus to that school. The outbreak exemplifies how an airborne agent may be transmitted effectively through (multiple) short (<20 minutes) public transport journeys and may rapidly affect many persons.PMID:38526123 | DOI:10.3201/eid3004.231299
Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Source Type: research