How to minimize Covid risk if you need Lift or Uber ride

This is interesting. According to this research from Brown University, air pressure is bigger through back seat windows in a car. So the best way to protect yourself from contamination if you need to ride in a car with a driver, is to seat in the back on the opposite side of the driver, and to open all four windows, but if two windows need to remain closed, the window behind the driver, and the window of the front passenger seat are the ones that should be open. This way you create a wind flow that goes diagonally across the car, in a direction that separates the air you breath from the air the driver exhales. This seems counter-intuitive as people would assume that they should open the window next to where they seat, but it is not so.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/11/30/sciadv.abe0166

Both the passenger and the driver should wear masks, of course.

 

This is exactly right.

This setup is the same as having a smoker in the car. The front passenger door drives air flow into the car, with the driver's rear door open to generally draws air out of the car.

This helps to avoid the air blast into the right rear door and reduces turbulence as the right rear door is drawn out of the car with less turbulence.

 

Very informative! Thank you!