UV-C: A future beyond COVID-19
With the roll out of vaccines, the end of the pandemic seems in sight. Yet, UV-C disinfection is here to stay. Here’s why.
Today the efficacy of UV-C as a powerful form of disinfection for air, surfaces, objects and water, is well known. And it has proven highly effective against all pathogens tested to date, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19.
In 2020, the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University, tested the efficacy of Signify UV-C light sources against SAR-CoV-2. Tests revealed that light sources irradiating the surface of a material inoculated with SARS-CoV-2, reduced the virus to below detectable levels in as little as 9 seconds for the dried virus and 4 seconds for the wet virus.
“Our test results show that above a specific dose of UV-C radiation, viruses were completely inactivated: in a matter of seconds, we could no longer detect any virus,” said Dr Anthony Griffiths, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine.
New products hit the market
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen interest in UV-C lighting skyrocket. Signify, the world leader in lighting, has launched new families of UV-C products in the past year – from air disinfection luminaires and chambers to wheelable trollies and battens for surface disinfection, even a desk-lamp for home-use. But will the roll-out of vaccines spell the end of the pandemic-led resurgence for UV-C technology?
“We don’t see it as an end but rather a new start,” said Paul van den Kerkhoff who manages the business development program for Signify’s UV-C portfolio. “What the pandemic has done is to give fresh impetus to the trend of health and wellbeing in the workplace, which was gaining ground long-before the pandemic. And then there are future uncertainties - who knows what virus will threaten us next?”
The risk is substantial. “We have to think wider than COVID-19.
It’s time we take virus mitigation seriously and UV-C lighting is a very effective means to this end,” says Femke Megens - de Poorter, a UV-C lighting expert at Signify. “In combination with other disinfection methods, it can serve as a line of defence to help keep safe offices, supermarkets, gyms, public transport and other high-contact environments, while reducing the need for chemical disinfectants.”
Van den Kerkhoff also talks about the value of keeping people safe and the business case for putting UV-C lighting into all manner of buildings. “Just look at football clubs. Their greatest assets are their players. Every year you hear about teams affected by flu bugs, resulting in them fielding weaker teams or playing havoc with fixtures. While COVID-19 was the primary driver for clubs to install our disinfection upper air luminaires in their dressing rooms, UV-C technology can help protect players all-year round from airborne diseases, such as seasonal flu. Health reasons aside, it makes good business sense,” said Van den Kerkhoff.
Both PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig have installed Philips UV-C disinfection upper air luminaires in their dressing rooms to help create a safer working environment for players and coaching staff.
The same logic ought to apply to offices and other workplaces. A report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc, stated that in the flu season of 2018-2019, an estimated 20 million US workers fell sick, causing a productivity loss to businesses of $17.6 billion.
Preparing for the future
As countries put forward economic stimulus packages and embark on infrastructure projects, attention should be given to making workplaces and public buildings safer. In the European Union alone, the total stimulus package amounts to a massive EUR 1.8 trillion. A significant chunk of this is earmarked for building renovation. What better time to bring UV-C technology to the fore to help create a safer, cleaner indoor environments?
If people are to have the confidence to return to offices, then greater attention must be given to keeping them safe. They must be able to trust the surfaces they touch and the air that they breath – pandemic or no pandemic. This is where UV-C lighting makes a real difference with its extraordinary power to disinfect. It truly is a technology for the new normal.