Published: 18 January 2021
► Loosely based on a Toyota Prius
► Having all four windows open is best
If there’s one thing we learned through 2020, it s that confined spaces are particularly dangerous for airborne disease transmission. A new study into the effectiveness of open car windows reveals just how useful the method is at keeping SARS-CoV-2 – and other airborne diseases – at bay.
Researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island, USA, used computer simulations to track airflow through a car’s cabin, providing potential best-case strategies to reduce the risk of transmitting diseases through aerosols (which are tiny particles that linger in the air, thought to be the mode of transmission for Covid-19).
Jan 18, 2021
Over the past year, as health authorities have tried to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have trained their scientific attention on a variety of potentially risky environments: places where large groups of people gather and the novel coronavirus has ample opportunity to spread. They have swabbed surfaces on cruise ships, tracked case numbers in gyms, sampled ventilation units in hospitals, mapped seating arrangements in restaurants and modeled boarding procedures in airplanes.
They have paid less attention to another everyday environment: the car. A typical car, of course, does not carry nearly enough people to host a traditional superspreader event. But cars come with risks of their own; they are small, tightly sealed spaces that make social distancing impossible and trap the tiny, airborne particles, or aerosols, that can transmit the coronavirus.
Opening your car windows could reduce your COVID-19 risk yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Over the past year, as health authorities have tried to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers have trained their scientific attention on a variety of potentially risky environments: places where large groups of people gather and the novel coronavirus has ample opportunity to spread. They have swabbed surfaces on cruise ships, tracked case numbers in gyms, sampled ventilation