To help beat COVID-19, don’t talk inside an elevator: Here’s why

To help beat COVID-19, don’t talk inside an elevator: Here’s why

DUBAI: Every day some 7 billion elevator journeys take place. Those were the days when lifts can be packed with people. Well, not anymore. Today, there are well-established elevator mandates, discouraging passengers from talking, overcrowding, among others. This may remain so for the foreseeable future. And that's because elevators meet at least two conditions known to contribute to the easy spread of the coronavirus: High-touch surfaces and people confined in a tight space breathing each other's air. In some countries, like Germany, Netherlands, Norway, a "third wave" of COVID-19 cases are still spiking again exponentially, though case numbers are starting to dop in countries that have ramped up vaccinations, including the UAE. The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose. It can also thrive in an aerosol, as when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks loudly. The virus can also thrive for hours in surfaces, e. g. elevator buttons and escalator handrails “” and be transferred through contact. The science behind elevator etiquette it is now well documented. There had been super-spreader events traced to elevator use, including one woman who had infected 72 others. Air-borne coronaviruses can survive in a closed elevator for