According to a study, we have more or less risk of being contaminated with Covid-19 depending on our place in certain public transport.
If there is one place where safety distances are difficult to respect, it is transport. Between school holidays, tourists or simply rush hour, TGVs, subways and other buses are crowded. Places conducive to contamination. Especially since the Covid-19 Spread mainly through aerosols, that is, fine particles exhaled by infected people that stay in suspension and float in the air for several hours. It is for this reason that it is very important to always wear a mask.
Well, according to researchers at IBM Research Europe, our place in public transport could determine our level of exposure to these aerosols, reports Slate. Indeed, the risk of Covid-19 contamination would be different depending on the place you occupy – window side, corridor side or in the middle -. Specifically, if you are sitting on the aisle and the person next to you is sick, then you are more likely to be infected, says the study published on December 22 in the scientific journal Physics of Fluids.
The worst place
To achieve these results, the scientists analyzed the ventilation system present in some public transport, including TGVs, where “air is injected at the top and extracted from the bottom via air vents located near the window seats”, can we read in the American Institute of Physics report. They then observed what happens when droplets are exhaled by passengers seated in the same row. As a result, the fine particles released by the middle passenger travel directly to the airways of the aisle seated person. So if this passage is infected, its neighbor will probably be too.
Conversely, if it is the sick person who is in the hallway, his infected droplets spin down thanks to the ventilation system, adds the study. It is also better if the infected person is seated on the window side, as the droplets travel upwards more, so they float less in the air, which reduces the risk of infection.