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A new study shows that you should also wear a mouth mask outdoors. Especially on windy days, the risk of infection increases.
A new study shows that windy weather can accelerate the spread of coronaviruses. As researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay discovered, gusts of wind can carry pathogens from people who are coughing.
The findings were published in the journal Physics of Fluids.
Airborne viral load increases due to wind
For the study, the experts wanted to test how viruses are spread by coughing and wind. “Mimicking real cough” can be very complicated in research. According to the scientists, a kind of turbulent flow with a vortex-like shape is observed especially in coughs.
That’s why the team used a large-eddy simulation for their study. This refers to a method that mimics turbulence.
The researchers studied how viruses spread after coughing in windy and calm conditions. The cough swirls allowed larger droplets to remain airborne longer than predicted in previous studies. This also increases the time needed to adequately dilute the viral load in fresh air.
The coughed-up pathogens interact with the wind flowing in the same direction. As a result, the larger viral droplets become trapped in the swirls of the coughing stream instead of falling to the ground relatively quickly due to gravity.
The analysis found that even a light breeze of about five miles per hour increases the distance between two people by about 20 percent.
Depending on the strength of the cough, the distance the viruses travel changes from one to two meters.
Wind speeds of up to 17 kilometers per hour increase the risk that coronaviruses can spread.
“The longer residence time of some of the larger droplets increases the viral load that is transmitted by the coughing stream – and thus the likelihood of infection. Overall, the study shows that the risk of infection increases with even a slight breeze,” researcher Amit Agrawal of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay said in a news release.
Experts recommend wearing masks outdoors
“The study is significant in that it points to the increased risk of infection that can result from coughing and wind. Based on the findings, we recommend wearing masks outdoors, especially in windy weather,” Agrawal said.
In addition, the research team recommends adhering to other protective measures as well. For example, even when outdoors, people should sneeze into their elbows, keep their distance and turn their faces away when coughing or sneezing.
- source: k.at/picture:pixabay.com
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