The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Schools field virus-fighting pitches
Districts must determine which products are based on sound science and which don’t live up to hype.
Metro Atlanta school districts are being flooded with pitches for expensive products that claim to keep the coronavirus at bay.
UV lighting devices. Fogging machines. Hand-rinsing sinks.
With taxpayer dollars on the line, districts eager to ensure their schools are COVID-19 safe must determine which products are based on sound science and which ones don’t live up to the hype.
“We wanted to make sure we were not buying into gimmicks and things that were being sold by someone just seeking to make money off the pandemic,” said Chuck Gardner, chief operations officer for Marietta City Schools.
The Cobb County School District is facing public scrutiny after paying Protek Life nearly $800,000 to install UV sanitizing lights reportedly designed to kill harmful microbes on surfaces.
The district halted the project after the lights malfunctioned and is now “in discussion with Protek” to remove them, a spokeswoman said.
But the district is moving ahead with a plan to install hand-rinsing machines in schools that cost $14,361 apiece, according to procurement documents. Board of Education members voted in November voted to spend up to $12 million to install the machines as well as the UV sanitizing lights in its 67 elementary schools.
The hand-rinsing machines, developed by 30e Scientific, call for users to place their hands under a stream of water infused with ozone for about seven seconds to remove germs and dry their hands with paper towels.
Dr. Bob Lubitz, chief medical officer with 30e Scientific, made numerous statements to the school board recently about the science behind the product. Aqueous ozone has been shown to kill a number of bacteria, fungi and viruses, including the H1N1 swine flu virus and the norovirus, he said.
But the product doesn’t kill the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, though it kills a common human coronavirus, according to his presentation to school board members. That surprised Cobb parent Gelisa Longmire, a member of a grassroots organization critical of the district’s spending choices during the pandemic.
“That’s a huge amount of money on something that’s not been proven,” Longmire said of the hand-rinsing stations.
Board member Jaha Howard, who voted against the $12 million expenditure, said the “Iggy” hand-rinsing machines were not tested in an educational setting, so the district has no data to show how safe and effective they are in a school environment.
“I’ll say that we do a lot of things well, but in this instance, I think we missed the mark,” he said. “This is not the place to figure what works and doesn’t work. We need proven, tried and true technology if we are going to spend that kind of money.”
Evaluating the science
Marietta City Schools has received dozens of pitches from companies stating their products can kill the virus that causes COVID-19. One company wanted the district to install UV technology on its HVAC system and said it would help clean the air before it’s dispersed.
Gardner said it would have been too expensive to maintain. The district is fighting COVID-19 with array of products in addition to other measures, such as face masks, social distancing and installing desk shields, he said.
For instance, it uses foggers to expel a mist of disinfectant into the air. It also purchased 67 clean air needlepoint bipolar ionization units for $78,565 to install on buses used to transport students, Gardner said. In addition, the district spent $255,970 to install the ionization technology on HVAC units in schools and buildings that weren’t previously retrofitted with the devices.
“I don’t believe any of these are a silver bullet,” he said. “We tried to layer our approach to create the safest environment possible for staff and students.”
Delphine Farmer, an associate chemistry professor at Colorado State University, said companies peddling products often pay independent consulting firms to conduct lab tests in “unrealistic conditions” to show their technology can kill the novel coronavirus.
For example, Farmer said companies marketing products like bipolar ionization technology study their effectiveness in small boxes loaded up with various microbes, including the coronavirus. Though the results may show the products work, the data is not reliable because the products are later used in realistic environments, she said.
“It’s enough to raise concerns, and from my perspective, these companies need to show that their products are safe,” she said.
M.G. Finn, a professor of biochemistry at Georgia Tech, said ozone is also used in large-scale food processing operations to disinfect items and in machines that clean sleep apnea devices.
Finn said schools need to determine if any technology they are buying is just as effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission as hand washing with soap and water, getting vaccines, maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.
He said some products on the market “could help people feel more secure but could give people a false sense of security.”
As the school year began in August, Fayette County Public Schools installed 75 thermal imaging cameras, which are said to detect when people have elevated body temperatures. The cameras, which are integrated with the district’s security system, were purchased for $525,000 from Hikvision.
Mike Sanders, assistant superintendent of operations, said in a statement that the cameras have allowed district nurses to stop students, staff and visitors who have elevated body temperatures from entering school buildings.
“Of course we follow that up with a manual check by our nurses prior to sending them home,” he said.