GoTriangle bus driver had coronavirus symptoms while behind wheel

The driver was on Route 300, which travels between the Regional Transit Center, the Cary train station and the GoRaleigh station, and Route 305, which travels between Apex at Lake Pine Drive and Waverly Place and the GoRaleigh station, from 5:25 to 9:35 a.m. and from 3:05 to 7 p.m. on those dates.

"Because the bus driver came to work for three days while symptomatic, it’s possible bus riders or other GoTriangle employees were exposed to the virus," Wake County Medical Director Dr. Kim McDonald said in a statement. "The fluid nature of transit makes it impossible to determine who may have had close contact with the driver, so we’ve set up a hotline for concerned residents to call for guidance."

Anyone who worked at GoTriangle or rode those routes during that timeframe and starts to experience COVID-19 symptoms should isolate themselves for seven days after the onset of symptoms, officials said.

"We’ve been taking many precautions to keep our customers and operators safe," GoTriangle spokeswoman Burgetta Wheeler said in an email.

Those precautions include suspending fare collections and allowing passengers to board at the rear of buses to improve "social distancing" and reduce contact with frequently touched surfaces, fogging all buses with disinfectant weekly, cleaning buses twice daily and making hand sanitizer available on every bus.