UV-C: A key solution to helping facilities managers deal with covid as an endemic
Covid will become an endemic disease as early as 2024, Pfizer executives recently stated, meaning that the virus that’s drastically changed all of our lives since 2019 will move from a global pandemic to a seasonal presence causing regional outbreaks across the world, similar to influenza. “We believe Covid will transition to an endemic state, potentially by 2024,” said Nanette Cicero, global president of Pfizer Vaccines. Covid-19 would reach the endemic level when populations have enough immunity from vaccines or from prior infections to keep hospitalizations, transmissions, and deaths under control even as the virus circulates further, globally.
If we’re all going to be living with Covid for years to come, we still have to enter physical buildings for various and obvious reasons. The CDC reports that primarily, the virus is transmitted between people through small respiratory droplets that are released when someone talks, coughs or sneezes. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports suggest that aerosol transmission can occur in some settings, like crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces. So, given that the CDC and the WHO has advised that Covid can indeed spread through HVAC systems, what technologies can be deployed to maintain safer indoor environments? The answer is easy: UV-C technology
Most people are unfamiliar with UVGI or UV-C. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, or UVGI, is the use of ultraviolet (UV) energy to instantly kill viral, bacterial, and fungal organisms. UVGI fixtures produce UV-C energy, which has shorter wavelengths than more penetrating UV-A and UV-B rays and poses less risk to human health. Upper-room UVGI refers to a disinfection zone of UV energy that is located above people in the rooms they occupy. This kills airborne pathogens and viruses like Covid-19 often with 99.9998% accuracy in the room where they are released.
The CDC does not provide recommendations for, or against, any particular UVGI manufacturer or OEM. If we truly want to fight what appears to be a global endemic, we must encourage UV-C mandates for Federal Government properties and property management companies to deploy UV technology in the buildings that we frequent most like malls, bus or plane terminals, corporate workplaces, and apartment and condo complexes. UV-C was first used to disinfect the municipal water supply of Marseille, France, in 1908. It’s been over 100 years that we’ve had this astoundingly potent disinfection technology at our disposal. Facilities Managers across the world need to realize that it’s time to start taking UV-C more serious as the endemic looms.
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/is-covid-here-to-stay-endemic-rcna9559
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/sars-cov-2-transmission.html
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/uv-lights-and-lamps-ultraviolet-c-radiation-disinfection-and-coronavirus
Written by Alon Hovav & Steve Grabenheimer
