The high number of deaths of London bus drivers is of a piece with other evidence that prolonged exposure in enclosed spaces to someone infected w/ coronavirus is unsafe. 2 metre social distancing won't make buses, the tube, classrooms, or shared offices safe. 1/10

First, here's the other evidence, from US CDC papers about a restaurant & a call centre & further studies involving a church, indoor sporting event, etc. 2/10 https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

It's alarming that the rate of coronavirus death among London bus drivers is 16 times the death rate of NHS workers. 3/10
https://www.ft.com/content/bae97166-891d-11ea-a01c-a28a3e3fbd33

Bus drivers also account for the vast majority of coronavirus deaths among all London transport workers: 28 of 37. 4/10
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/world/europe/coronavirus-london-buses.html

This high death rate suggests that airborne coronavirus infection will be hard to avoid in journeys on public transport, or in other enclosed spaces where people remain for more than a brief period of time. 5/10

London bus drivers sit in enclosed cab, behind a plastic screen with holes. They can also ventilate their cab by opening their window. Passengers don't generally sit or stand close to them for a prolonged period of time. 6/10

So their <2 metre exposure to an infected passenger will typically have been for a very brief period, when the passenger boards, taps the yellow circle & proceeds to a seat more than 2 metres away. 7/10

Brief exposures of <2 metres, plus prolonged exposure to the same air that passengers breath, were sufficient to give rise to a high rate of infection. This casts doubt on the efficacy of a policy of 2 metre social distancing on public transport. 8/10

And we already have other evidence (see 2/) that, if you're in the same (or connected via air conditioning) enclosed space as someone who is infected for an extended period of time, your risk of infection is high even if you're much more than 2 metres away. 9/10

So we'll need much more than 2 metre social distancing to make indoor spaces where we spend prolonged periods of time safe. This applies to public transport, workplaces, classrooms, restaurants, bars, cinemas & places of worship. 10/10