vector image of a bunch of kids on a school bus

Denver might sit Rocky Mountain high, but the COVID-19 pandemic has the city feeling low. In an effort to protect its most precious cargo from COVID-19, Denver Public Schools is placing disinfecting lights on all of its school buses, reports Fox 31 Denver.

Tim Mickey of the McCandles Bus Center told Fox 31 that the "Code 3" lights work by going after microbes and killing the host, causing bacteria, mold and fungi to die. McCandles, which sells buses to school districts throughout Colorado and Wyoming, pitched the idea for adding the lights to the Denver School District.

Denver Public Schools has more than 300 buses, so placing the "Code 3" on each is no simple (or cheap) task. The nearly $400,0000 being spent on parts and labor for implementation of the light should help get the technology on buses by January 2021. As of Tuesday, the district had installed the lights on 20 buses. 

Mickey said his company has seen about a 90 percent decrease in airborne pathogens and germs on buses where the light is installed. Of course, buses are far from the only place that germs can be found during the school day. Click here to review the five germiest things kids touch at school.