Open right car window in Uber or office cab to cut Covid risk

New York, Dec 6 : Next time when you take an Uber or hitch a ride to office, remember not to open the car window that is closest to you as it is not the best option to protect yourself from coronavirus or any other airborne infection.
According to researchers, including those of Indian origin from University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) in the US, opening the windows farthest from the driver and the back-seat passenger might offer some benefits.
The researchers hypothesised that if all windows can’t be left open, opening the front window on the right side and the rear window on the left side might best protect the driver and passenger from the hundreds of aerosol particles released in every human breath.
In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, researchers revealed certain surprising ways in which the airflow patterns within a car’s interior could either heighten or suppress the risk of airborne infection during everyday commutes.
“One might imagine that people instinctively open windows right beside them while riding with a co-passenger during the pandemic. That may not be optimal — though it’s better than opening no window,” says lead author Varghese Mathai, an assistant professor of physics at UMass Amherst.
“We designed this research with ride-sharing in mind, from a traditional taxi or Uber and Lyft to noncommercial commutes, assuming a driver and one passenger, seated in the back on the passenger side to provide the best possible spacing between the occupants.”