Bahn: When it comes to the virus issue, the company relies on scientific smoke candles

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What the Deutsche Bahn publishes after months as scientific knowledge on the spread of coronaviruses in trains is outrageous.

Under the guise of science, it is suggested that traveling on trains is safe despite the pandemic.

The only result of the study is that the aerosol concentration is highest in the seats that are closest to the infected person, and that a mouth and nose cover can reduce the number of particles that arrive in the passenger seat next to him.

This is a truism after nine months of the pandemic.

It would have been more important to find out how high the risk of infection is in which seat and what distances have to be observed from a scientific point of view.

But the study does not make any statements about this.

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The claim that the situation on the train could not be improved with better filters in the air conditioning system is also downright reprehensible.

The researchers compared different filters with one another - but only those that by definition cannot separate aerosols.

So it is not surprising that they do not bring any advantage.

The so-called Hepa filters, which would also be able to filter out fine aerosols - and which are used in aircraft -, however, have not even been investigated.

The publication of these already meager results was delayed for months with the argument that in view of the explosive nature of the issue, interim results were not published.

Now there is still only a so-called short version of the study, a longer version should follow in a few months - when the pandemic is hopefully almost over.

None of this has anything to do with transparency.

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The names of the scientists who carried out the study do not appear in the so-called short version.

You will know why.

In the scientific community you cannot be seen with such a paper.

Even for laypeople it is clear that these 13 pages do not meet the applicable standards.

There are no literature sources, no measurement data series, the paper only has a single footnote.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) gives its name to the fact that Deutsche Bahn passengers continue to be weighed in seemingly safe conditions.

The state-owned Deutsche Bahn leaves its customers with the question of whether they can still get on the train.

Especially before the Christmas holidays, it would be important for many people to be able to make their decision based on facts.

But instead of making this possible, Deutsche Bahn relies on scientific smoke candles and the selective publication of results.