00:00 When a virus becomes airborne, its transmission rates skyrocket. However, a new study looking
00:04 specifically at the virus behind the COVID pandemic has found that slowing its spread
00:09 could be as easy as opening a window. Researchers recently found that SARS-CoV-2 survives much better
00:14 in air ripe with CO2, meaning opening a window to let in fresh air reduces the virus's capacity to
00:20 reach a viral load for infection. Alan Hadrell, a chemist at the University of Bristol in the UK,
00:25 said about the findings, "Opening a window may be more powerful than originally thought."
00:29 Especially in crowded and poorly ventilated rooms, as fresh air will have a lower concentration of
00:34 CO2, causing the virus to become inactive much faster. When a room is packed full of people,
00:39 CO2 parts per million can skyrocket. Atmospheric CO2 levels usually sit at around 400 ppm. In a
00:46 room full of people, that number can jump to 3000 ppm or higher, with the study finding that viral
00:52 particles flourish in these conditions, increasing in concentrations by as much as 10 times. But why?
00:57 Well, exhaled COVID droplets are acidic, and carbon dioxide molecules are as well,
01:02 with Hadrell explaining, "This causes the pH of the droplets to become less alkaline,
01:07 resulting in the virus within them being inactivated at a much slower rate."
Comments