Not almost none, but very few, yes. Aerosol transmissions are a thing, but for non airborne transmissible diseases, these seem to be rare compared to close-personal interaction transmissions, such as direct hand contact and touching other people or shared surfaces.
They said the study proves the importance of washing hands and wearing face masks in public places because the virus can linger in the air attached to fine droplet particles.
“Our advice is to wear a face mask all the way [through the bus ride],” they added.
[...] The researchers also found that none of those passengers in the two buses who wore face masks were infected.
They said it vindicated the decision to ask people to wear a face mask in public.
Just came across this story Coronavirus can travel twice as far as official ‘safe distance’ and stay in air for 30 minutes, Chinese study finds:
I think they can if done properly.
FYI, that first article you linked was later retracted without explanation.