COVID-19 has completely changed the way we travel as we know it, with a small number of people taking flights and public transport, but our cars have been a mystery. How safe are we in our vehicles? What are our risks?
A study published by Science Advances in early January has begun answering some of our most pressing questions about the transmission of COVID-19 to our vehicles. Four scientists from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Brown University used computationally fthe dynamics of play to assess the risks of the virus inside the vehicle cab and has also suggested ways to mitigate the risk.
If you know the design process of a race car or an airplane, you may have encountered computational fluid dynamics before. Basically, these computer simulations model how gases and liquids move across different surfaces. In this particular case, our scientists used CFDs 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 50 mph carrying two passengers: a driver at the left front of the car and a passenger at the right rear. Interestingly, the air flow out the the moving car creates a pressure gradient inside the car that circulates air from the back of the car to the front. Then they began to model the flow of indoor air with different combinations of open or closed windows. Here it is important to note that regardless of the combination, the air conditioning was on.
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The results will probably not be surprising. When all four windows were closed, the car was very poorly ventilated, so eight to 10 percent of the aerosols, through which the COVID-19 travels, expired by one person in the car traveled to the other. When everything the windows were open, the car was at its best ventilating, with only 0.2 to two percent of aerosols changing between passengers.
Of course, open windows are not always practical when driving. In the north, you will freeze in the winter. In the south, someone with a delicate constitution will melt in the summer. Heavy rain will make things twice as miserable. So it was better for the driver and passenger to go down through the windows than to keep everything closed. This diagonal the configuration allows air to flow in and then out again. It may not be comfortable, but it can save lives.
A later study that has not yet been published found that breaking windows halfway was also a good idea, but just rolling them a quarter of the way was significantly more dangerous, The New York Times reports. For larger vehicles such as minivans or for vehicles that carry more people, the recommendation is to keep everything open.
It has been recommended to open windows since the onset of the virus. Increased ventilation removes virus particles instead of recirculating them. And we also know that the smaller the space we share, the more likely we are to exchange aerosol particles. This study has basically only used science to give us the ideal strategy to, for example, share cars or short excursions out of your bubble.
Of course, there are still dangers, even when opening the windows. In fact, drive with the windows open increases air pollution in vehicles by 80 percent, which increases your chances of dying as a result of air pollution.
The best option is, of course, to stay home unless absolutely necessary and, when traveling, do so in off-peak hours.