“many have blamed subways and buses for coronavirus outbreaks, but a growing body of research suggests otherwise.”
The piece noted that epidemiologists use the term “cluster” to describe major coronavirus outbreaks. A cluster is defined as more than three cases that can be traced to a common event or venue, excluding transmission within households.
In Paris, a recent study found that none of the city’s 150 coronavirus clusters from early May to early June originated on the city’s transit systems, Le Parisien newspaper reported.
It’s a similar situation in Japan, where researchers failed to connect a single cluster to the country’s commuter trains, said Hitoshi Oshitani, a virologist and public health expert at Tohoku University.
The vast majority of the clusters were instead traced to gyms, bars, live music venues, karaoke rooms and similar establishments where people come in close contact with one another, Oshitani said in an email to E&E News.
The evidence is less robust in the United States, which lags other developed countries in contact tracing and coronavirus testing.
Both mask wearing and physical distancing—or keeping 6 feet apart from fellow passengers—are the most important considerations, she said. They take precedence over cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, which are much less likely to spread the coronavirus than respiratory droplets, according to the CDC.
Still, transit poses the risk of “high-touch surfaces” such as handrails and elevator buttons that “a lot of people have touched before you,” Perry said.
“Not all surfaces are created equal,” she said. “With the standard surface—let’s say you pick up an item in the grocery store or get a box in the mail—the likelihood of getting COVID-19 is very low. With public transportation, what we’re talking about is high-touch surfaces. And those are higher-risk surfaces.”
Recent research from Harvard University, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found a tentative link between higher exposure to particulate matter and higher mortality rates from COVID-19, particularly among communities of color (Greenwire, April 7).
“Shared transportation is so critical to keeping cities congestion-free. And congestion exacerbates the air quality issues that are such a huge part of the calculus of the public health crisis now,” said Brianne Eby, a senior policy analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington-based think tank.
Fried, the communications director for TransitCenter, agreed.
“If everyone who has a car starts to drive instead of taking the train or the bus, then particulate emissions are going to rise, and that’s going to exacerbate a lot of the health disparities that have hit communities of color especially hard during COVID,” Fried said. {read}