COVID-19 completely changed the face of travel as we know it, with an extremely small number of people on flights and public transport – but our cars remained a mystery. Are we safe in our vehicles? What are our risks?
A study published by Science Advances in early January began to answer some of our most pressing questions about the COVID-19 transmission in our vehicles. Four scientists from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Bruniversity itself used computational fluid dynamics to assess the risks posed by the virus in the cabin of a vehicle and also suggested ways to mitigate the risk.
If you are familiar with the design process of a race car or plane, so you’ve probably encountered computational fluid dynamics before. Essentially, these computer simulations model how gases and liquids move over and across different surfaces. In this specific case, our scientists used CFD to model the way air moves inside a car.
The simulated vehicle used in the study was loosely based on a Toyota Prius traveling at 80 km / h carrying two passengers: a driver on the left front of the car and a passenger on the right rear. Interestingly, the air flow outside The moving car creates a pressure gradient inside the car that makes air circulate from the back of the car to the front. Then, they began to model the indoor airflow with different combinations of open or closed windows. It is important to note here that, regardless of the combination, the air conditioning was on.
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The results are unlikely to be surprising. When all four windows were closed, the car was poorly ventilated, so 8 to 10 percent of the aerosols – in which the COVID-19 travels – exhaled by one person in the car traveled to the other. When everything the windows were open, the car had the best ventilation, with only 0.2 to 2% of the aerosols being exchanged between passengers.
Of course, wide open windows are not always practical when you are driving. In the north, you will freeze in the winter. In the south, someone with a delicate build will melt in the summer. Heavy rain will make things twice as miserable. So seeing the driver and the passenger rolling down the windows was better than keeping everything tightly closed. That diagonal the setting allows air to enter and exit. It may not be comfortable, but it can save lives.
A later study that has not yet been published found that breaking windows in half was also a good idea, but rolling them just a quarter of the way was significantly more dangerous, New York Times reports. For larger vehicles, such as minivans or to vehicles that transport more people, the recommendation is to keep everything open.
Opening windows is recommended from the beginning of the virus. Increased ventilation allows virus particles to be carried away rather than recirculated. And we also know that the smaller the space we share, the more likely we are to exchange aerosol particles. This study basically used science to give us the ideal strategy for, say, rideshares or short rides outside your bubble.
Of course, there are still dangers, even when opening windows. In fact, driving with the windows open increases air pollution inside the car by 80 percent, which increases the likelihood of dying as a result of air pollution.
The best option is, of course, to stay home unless absolutely necessary and, when traveling, do it during off-peak hours.