This Irish device can zap airborne Covid in classrooms, but Norma Foley prefers to tell teachers to open the windows
AN IRISH company has developed a device to kill airborne Covid-19 viruses – but the Government has not placed any orders for the technology yet as it seeks to agree a safe return of indoor dining with the hospitality sector.
Novaerus provided the devices which allowed a nightclub to open in Belgium last week in a successful pilot test scheme.
The company says its NanoStriketechnology inactivates airborne micro-organisms on contact, providing the first line of protection against viruses and bacteria, including the virus that causes Covid-19. Independent tests have also borne this out.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) has now called for the Government to provide indoor hospitality venues with grants to purchase this type of equipment to make indoor dining safer for customers. Prices range from a shoebox-size device at €1,500 to a washing machinesize device at €12,000.
The devices are currently in use throughout Europe and the US.
But so far, Novaerus/McGreals CEO Deirdre Devitt says the Government has not placed any orders with the Irish company.
‘Coronavirus needs to be destroyed in the air’’
Ms Devitt also said the repeated emphasis on ‘ventilation’ in reopening guidelines and conversations is a red herring.
She told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The Sars 2 coronavirus, which is airborne, needs to be destroyed in the air.
‘The HSE only recommends airing or ventilating indoor spaces to protect against airborne transmission.
‘These recommendations fall way short of properly dealing with a virus whose particles can amass in the hundreds of millions on a single pinhead.
‘While ventilation does reduce the risk of infection, it does not solve the problem as opening a window very often just moves the same pockets of “dead” or infected air around a room.
‘We don’t need to massage or poke this virus, we need to inactivate it in the air and we have the technology to do that.’
Devitt’s company, which has its headquarters in Dublin with a laboratory on the DCU Innovation campus and a manufacturing base in Portlaoise, says it has received hundreds of queries from restaurants, schools, churches and other public facilities.
RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins says the Government needs to look urgently at the technology ‘especially if other EU countries are employing it’.
‘This is an expensive piece of equipment and restaurants will need help to purchase it,’ he told the MoS.
‘But, of course, we should be looking at using it. We desperately need solutions to the indoor dining problem and the Government needs to fund those solutions.’
Gina Murphy of Hugo’s restaurant off St Stephen’s Green in central Dublin agrees.
‘I’m aware of this company, it seems an excellent product but it’s capital expenditure that we don’t have funds for after the year we’ve had.
‘The Government has to give grants. We’ve been closed for too long.’
Results from the event in Brussels last weekend, at which 350 volunteers partied throughout the night without masks or social distancing, could pave the way for the opening up of clubs and other hospitality venues across Europe. It is already widely used in hospitals, schools and office settings.
The Dance Again event took place in La Madeleine in the city and was organised by the City of Brussels government, in association with the Brussels by Night Federation. All participants had to produce a negative Covid-19 test result before entry. Novaerus provided four of its largest devices for the event. A single unit can change the air up to four times per hour in a room up to 92 square metres (990 square feet) in size.
The air quality was constantly measured inside the venue by CO2 monitors throughout the night.
Ms Devitt says Covid-19 has been a wake-up call for indoor air quality.
‘Throughout the pandemic, significant evidence has built up that demonstrates the primary route of virus transmission is airborne,’ she said.
‘It is now clear that a wide spectrum of microorganisms and viruses including SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by air currents in homes, workplaces and other indoor spaces.’
Meanwhile, the Department of Education has confirmed an open doors and windows policy will still be key to its ‘clean air strategy’ when the schools and colleges reopen.
‘The over-arching approach in the guidance is for schools to have windows open as fully as possible when classrooms are not in use like during break-times or lunch-times and also at the end of each school day, and partially open when classrooms are in use,’ a department spokesman said.
‘The guidance outlines the role that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) monitors can play a part in providing a useful general indication that areas/rooms may not be adequately ventilated and can enable occupants to become familiar with the impact of activities, outdoor weather and window openings on levels of good ventilation.
‘In this regard, the Department is procuring a number of portable monitors which will be distributed to schools in August and September – between two and 20 at primary level and between 20 and 35 at postprimary level depending on school size. This will ensure that a CO2 monitor will be available for use in every classroom in Ireland.’