Face masks and social distancing remain key weapons in the fight against COVID-19, but landlords and business owners now have a third option, writes Conrad Kullmann, Managing Director at FAR UVC AFRICA.
THERE is nothing normal about what some people are calling the “new normal”. Humans are gregarious. For millions of years, we have eaten together, celebrated together, and played together. It’s time to get back to that “old normal”.
And there are certainly safe ways to go back there.
The main way SARS-Co-2 spreads, in fact the way most coronaviruses spread, is through the air. An infected person coughs or sneezes and aerosolised droplets are inhaled by an otherwise healthy person.
There are two primary methods for minimising exposure to the virus recommended by the various centres for disease control: wearing a mask or face covering over your mouth and nose, and social distancing.
In addition to these two widely publicised methods is a third, fairly new, yet rarely mentioned method: cleansing the air. One effective way to do this indoors is with far-UVC light at 222-nanometer wavelength. This short wavelength on the far end of the ultraviolet spectrum is not harmful to humans.
We are leveraging this very technology in the form of a suite of sanitising products that use far-UVC 222 light to inactivate viruses (including SARS-CoV-2) and bacteria in the air and on surfaces. Our products adhere to standard regulatory and industry guidelines for recommended exposure limits.
Far-UVC 222’s longer wavelength brother, UVC 254, has been disinfecting the surfaces of operating rooms for decades. UVC 254 is very effective at killing drug-resistant bacteria and viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, UVC 254 is not safe for humans. Studies have shown that it can, over time, cause skin cancer and cataracts
What difference do 32 billionths of a meter make? Surprisingly, a lot. At 222 nanometers, drug resistant bacteria and viruses are destroyed just as effectively as at 254 nanometers.
And here’s the best part: far-UVC 222 is not harmful to humans or pets. Far-UVC 222 cannot pass through the outer layer of our skin or tear the layer of our eye.
According to a recent study by Hiroshima University, far-UVC 222 destroys SARS-CoV-2, which is approximately 120 nanometers in diameter. The outer dead layer of your skin is 100 times thicker than that.
How can far-UVC 222 cleanse the air? These excimer lamps can constantly scrub the indoor air around us, allowing us to go back to concerts, sporting events, and everyday life.
One way to clean the air is by installing far-UVC 222 lamps in overhead ceiling downlights or in cylinder (Sterilon Flow) standing on the floor of your business or home.
If we install these lamps everywhere, can we ditch masks? Absolutely not. Did we stop wearing seatbelts when airbags became ubiquitous? Far-UVC-222 is another powerful weapon in the fight against this pandemic and all other viruses and bad bacteria.
“What about good bacteria?” Yes, it is true that this technology will kill that too. But that is no different than washing your hands with hot water and soap.
Think you are too small to change the world? Look what a single-cell virus did to us in just a few months. Far-UVC-222 is small too, yet it has the ability to make us all safer during the pandemic.
