COVID-19 may still be transmitted even if a train passenger is sitting 8 feet away from an infected individual. According to the latest report of Metro UK, if a rail passenger is traveling for an hour, they should sit more than 1 meter away from each other in order to avoid getting infected by the novel coronavirus, as suggested by new research.
An empty train. All I can ride right now. 16ft from the next passenger. pic.twitter.com/mCEOMrfg44 — Josh (photo and video for hire) (@lenschunk) July 29, 2020
The WorldPop project of the University of Southampton's scientists discovered that the passengers on a journey of more than two hours should sit apart more than 1.5 meters to slow the spread of COVID-19. If there is a suspected infected individual nearby, researchers recommended that people must have a distance of at least 2.5 meters or over 8 feet.
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The new research was conducted between December 19, 2019, and Mar. 16, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which was based on the passengers who are using China's high-speed rail network.
For more studies about the prevention of COVID-19, check the news update here at TechTimes. Also, check this study, which states that children carry more COVID-19's RNA than young adults and adults.
The journal Clinical Infectious Diseases published the results of the study, while revealing that an average of 0.32% of the passengers who are sitting within three seats across five in front or behind an infected individual, still have a high risk of getting infected. The people who have the highest chance of getting infected with about 3.5% transmission rate are those who are traveling in adjacent to an infected passenger. Meanwhile, those individuals who are sitting in the same row as a coronavirus carrier only have 1.5 chances of getting the viral disease.
How the seating location and time travel increases the risk of COVID-19 infection on trains
Dr. Shengjie Lai, the lead investigator of the study, explained that although the results show that there is a high rate of a coronavirus transmission, it can still be moderated by the location of the person's seat and time travel in relation to an infectious person.
Happy Friday!
We are delighted to announce from Friday 21 August, we’ll begin to resume our train services to London King's Cross. We will initially introduce a limited timetable but plan to increase it as passenger demand returns.
pic.twitter.com/7dYoQhyRi3 — Hull Trains (@Hull_Trains) July 31, 2020
"The findings suggest that during the Covid-19 epidemic it is important to reduce the density of passengers and promote personal hygiene measures, the use of face coverings, and possibly carry-out temperature checks before boarding," he further explained.
Professor Andy Tatem, the WorldPop project director, confirmed that their team is the first one to quantify the individual risk the viral disease transmission on public transportation based on close contacts on high-speed trains and the data from epidemiological investigations.
Andy also said that the transmission risk of COVID-19 is also related to the time of travel, not just with the distance.
"We hope it can help to inform authorities globally about measures needed to guard against the virus and in turn help to reduce its spread," he said. For more important studies to help decrease the spread of the novel coronavirus, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Giuliano de Leon.
