Six Feet Distance Isn't Safe If Wind Is Blowing, As COVID-19 Droplets Travel Farther
Researchers claim that the virus can travel beyond six feet, in windy conditions
COVID-19 has surely changed the way we live our lives. We¡¯re all very cautious of meeting someone new or stepping into public places.
Masks are the newest accessory to our wardrobe, shaking hands has become a forbidden ritual today and touching common surfaces never developed so much anxiety.
And while we might wonder that maintaining social distancing will help us stay safe, a gush of strong wind could blow all of that out of proportion, literally.
Reported first by Cosmos, researchers claim that the virus can travel way beyond 6 feet, especially if it¡¯s pushed around by the ventilation. Several physics researchers looked at different models for airborne transmission of saliva droplets that contain the dangerous coronavirus and they claim that with the right ventilation, they could travel farther than just 6 feet.
This was revealed in a study conducted by the researchers at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus where they found a breeze of just 4 kilometres per hour was enough to transfer COVID-19 droplets up to 6 metres in a matter of five seconds.
Increasing the wind speed by four times, around 15 kilometres per hour transferred the droplets in just 1.6 seconds. Without wind, the particles could fall to the ground in a metre¡¯s distance.
Dimitris Drikakis, one of the researchers on this study states, ¡°The droplet cloud will affect both adults and children of different heights. Shorter adults and children could be at higher risk if they are located within the trajectory of the travelling saliva droplets. At a lower wind speed, the total mass reduction occurs more slowly compared to a higher speed, which may prolong the exposure of a human to the droplets if the subject is located within the droplet¡¯s envelope.¡±
Researchers created a computational fluid dynamics simulation to look at the state of saliva travelling through the air in front of a person after a cough.
They observed various effects that can influence the spread of particles, including humidity, dispersion force, interactions of molecules, and the evaporation of water from microdroplets.
The study involved running partial differential equations on 1,008 saliva droplets, and solving some 3.7 million equations.
Authors explain, ¡°Our findings imply that considering the environmental conditions, the two-meter (6 feet) social distance may not be sufficient. Further research is required to quantify the influence of parameters such as the environment¡¯s relative humidity and temperature, among others.¡±