The Safest Way to Ride in a Car During the Pandemic
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2021
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic; the science of the "home team advantage" and the surprising impact time zones can have on sports performance; and the failed COVID-19 vaccines you may not have heard about.
This is the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic by Kelsey Donk
- Airflow modeling suggests driving with all windows down safest to prevent COVID-19 transmission. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/aaft-ams120420.php
- Riding in a car in the pandemic: which windows to open? (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/uoma-ria120320.php
- Mathai, V., Das, A., Bailey, J. A., & Breuer, K. (2020). Airflows inside passenger cars and implications for airborne disease transmission. Science advances, 7(1), eabe0166. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/11/30/sciadv.abe0166
Sports performance on the road depends on your body's alignment with the time zone by Kelsey Donk
- NBA “bubble” reveals the ultimate home court advantage, study finds. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/ohs-nr120920.php
- McHill, A. W., & Chinoy, E. D. (2020). Utilizing the National Basketball Association’s COVID-19 restart “bubble” to uncover the impact of travel and circadian disruption on athletic performance. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78901-2
Why are there no failed COVID-19 vaccines? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Pranav)
- Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
- BBC News. (2020, September 9). Coronavirus: Oxford University vaccine trial paused after participant falls ill. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54082192
- Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine study paused due to illness. (2020, October 13). STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/12/johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-study-paused-due-to-unexplained-illness-in-participant/
- 3 Covid-19 Trials Have Been Paused for Safety. That’s a Good Thing. (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/health/covid-clinical-trials.html
- Australia Scraps Covid-19 Vaccine That Produced H.I.V. False Positives. (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/world/australia/uq-coronavirus-vaccine-false-positive.html
- Aristos Georgiou. (2020, December 11). Why Australia’s Failed COVID Vaccine Is an Example of Science at Its “Best.” Newsweek; Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/australia-failed-covid-vaccine-hiv-science-best-1554131
- Office of the Commissioner. (2020). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Monoclonal Antibody for Treatment of COVID-19. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-monoclonal-antibody-treatment-covid-19
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily. |
| 0:04.4 | From Curiosity.com, I'm Cody Goff, and I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:07.6 | Today you learn about the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic |
| 0:11.8 | and the surprising impact time zones can have on |
| 0:14.6 | sports performance. We'll also answer a listener question about failed COVID-19 vaccines. |
| 0:20.0 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. In a pandemic, it's always safest to spend your time with the people in your immediate household. |
| 0:28.0 | But if you do end up in a car with someone you don't live with, like a taxi or a ride share, |
| 0:34.0 | researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have some tips. |
| 0:38.0 | They recently found the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic. |
| 0:43.0 | When you first get into a car with someone outside your household, |
| 0:46.0 | your instinct will probably be to roll down your window. |
| 0:49.0 | Ventilation, right? |
| 0:51.0 | Lots of fresh circulating air can keep your exposure to the virus low after all |
| 0:55.7 | But this new study suggests that opening the window right next to you might not be your best option |
| 1:02.0 | Even in a car with just two people, the coronavirus |
| 1:05.2 | transmission risk is high because tiny aerosolized virus particles can stay in |
| 1:10.0 | the air for a long time. If you don't open the windows to let in fresh air, those particles can build up and pose an infection risk. |
| 1:18.0 | So it's important to find out how to reduce that risk as much as you can. |
| 1:22.0 | When the researchers simulated the experience to reduce that risk as much as you can. |
| 1:23.0 | When the researchers simulated the experience of a driver and a passenger in the car, their first |
| 1:27.8 | discovery wasn't a big surprise. |
| 1:30.3 | The best bet is to ride with all the windows down, with the backseat passenger and the driver sitting kitty corner from each other. |
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