Study shows importance of social distancing
WHILE social distancing is a concept that we’ve all become familiar with in recent weeks, a Wexford native has been to the fore in getting the message of just how important it is across to the general public.
Lecturer and Assistant Professor at UCD’s school of mechanical and materials engineering, Dr Kevin Nolan has done a huge amount of work to highlight how Covid-19 can be transmitted by sneezing, coughing or even breathing when in close proximity to someone else.
Along with Professor Ronan Cahill, Dr Nolan, who is an expert in Schlieren technology, have developed a method of showing the impact of a cough or sneeze on someone’s personal space. Using Schlieren technology - a physics principle using light to show the density of fluids and gases - it shows just how air moves around people when they breathe, cough and sneeze.
Basically, you can see air moving around people and in and out of people as they’re breathing and it provides a vivid illustration of how far you need to stand away from someone.
Kevin was born in Wexford, grew up in Ballywilliam and attended Rathgarogue National School and Good Counsel College in New Ross before attending University College Limerick, Imperial College in London and UCD where he is now carrying out his research.
‘From an engineering perspective, it’s very interesting, but from a healthcare perspective, you can see just how fast particles that contain the virus can travel,’ Dr Nolan explained.
He added that, when people get warm, the virus may travel upwards into a plume and into an air conditioning system - causing what’s known as ‘sick building syndrome’ where several people can end up infected. It’s for this reason that people were initially told to work from home.
In other videos, Dr Nolan also shows that while the spread of particles is not eliminated by the wearing of a mask, it is greatly reduced.
A video with Dr Nolan and Professor Ronan Cahill was last week featured on RTÉ and it is hoped that it will go some way towards showing the general public how easily the virus can be transmitted and encourage them to adhere to distancing guidelines and stay home where possible.