With the coronavirus outbreak, it might be tempting to leave a child in the car — for just a few minutes, to avoid exposing her to the virus — while you run into the grocery store or pharmacy.First of all, it is illegal to leave a child unattended in a motor vehicle in California., it can be lethal in minutes.“People always underestimate how hot a car can get,” said veteran meteorologist Jan Null, who has studied the danger and created NoHeatStroke.org.
Exterior color of the vehicle also made little difference, but the vehicle’s interior color was a big factor.The sun’s rays pour through the windows. This is shortwave radiation, Null explains. The windows and air are essentially transparent, and are warmed a little. But this shortwave radiation heats the objects it strikes. A dark dashboard, steering wheel or seat can be warmed from 180 to more than 200 degrees.
The interior temperature of a car can be 50 degrees higher than the temperature outside, and 80% of the heat increase happens in the first 30 minutes. So a child shouldn’t be left in a car for even a short time.Null found that the highest number of child heatstroke deaths occurred on Thursday and Friday, possibly suggesting a correlation with fatigue later in the workweek.
Under Kaitlyn’s Law, signed into law in 2001, it is illegal in California to leave a child 6 years or younger in a car when conditions such as heat or cold could threaten the child’s life, or when the vehicle is running or has keys in the ignition or both.The law is named for Kaitlyn Russell of Corona, a 6-month-old who died after being left by a babysitter in a parked car for more than two hours.
Nobody ain’t going out soooo...
That's it! Everybody jump in their car this summer with the windows rolled up and sit there until the coronavirus is killed. Brilliant!
Aren’t we in the middle of a stay at home order? Why would you have your dog in the car with you?
I have bleach...