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Comment by IG_Semmelweiss | Hacker News Reader

To this day, there is no mandate whatsoever in any public transport to keep windows open. NiH? CDC? Missing in action thanks a lot.

Uber could simply ask customers to always ask for windows down.

This to me is the biggest unsung crime of the pandemic by govt officials and private industry alike.

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Uber and Lyft in fact require customers to agree to keep windows open “when possible” in the same pop up as reminding them to wear masks. Short of intrusive integrations with some hypothetical car window status sensors, not presently deployed in the fleet, that’s getting close to the limits of what can be effectively achieved for now.

And they require the driver to have recirculate off, fresh intake on.

In Tokyo most train companies agreed to keep the windows open at all times and encourage passengers to lower the windows if they see a closed one. Cooperation is very high and I only see them closed when it rains.

I used to prefer Uber/Ola over the humble auto rickshaw [1] mainly because of two reasons: cars are safer; and an air-conditioned car helps avoid pollution from traffic (which is quite high in Bangalore). Now I prefer auto rickshaws (at least for short distances) because they are well ventilated due to its door-less design. The back seat of an auto rickshaw is constantly braving the elements (sunlight, dust and wind) and is likely to be more germ free in this context. To make it even better, now these autos have a transparent plastic screen between the driver and riders, thereby isolating them from each other while being open to the environment.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw

I'm fully vaccinated and also got mild COVID once, so as someone in my 20s with no underlying health conditions, I don't really care about ventilation anymore.

Right now, the temperature is -9C/16F. Winter is really just starting, and it'll probably get colder. It isn't snowing right now.

I'm not convinced windows being down is going to do anything outside of making folks cold. Air circulation happens still because cars have heating systems that draw air in from the outside.

And fwiw, the busses here do not have windows that open (outside of emergency panels). I'm in Norway, though, and folks were pretty decent at keeping distance even before the pandemic.

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