A NH Company Formed to Address Indoor Transmission of COVID-19

As we move indoor for thewinter, the number of Covid-19cases is beginning to rise rapidly. This fact correlates to a recent study in Clinical Infectious Diseases highlighting the role of airborne spread of COVID-19 and the importance of efficient ventilation. The study found that infected persons, who may be asymptotic, exhale millions of viral RNA particles per hour in the early stages of the disease. In one study an outbreak affected 81% of the occupants, and 50% of the staff. It was studies like these which caused 239 expert scientists to sign a letter to the World Health Organization to recognize airborne transmission of COVID-19 as the primary mode of transmission.

A New Hampshire based company, Air Cleaners Inc, has recently formed to address this issue. The founders of the company are experts in the field of indoor airflow and air quality and have developed a unique product to address this issue. The product, called a Clean Air Curtain, purifies the indoor air in a room to the level far below the viral concentration required to cause an infection. The device can be placed on a tabletop or bar top and incorporates both a HEPA filter and an Ultraviolet Light to “trap and kill” any and all pathogens in the room. The company has shown, through extensive supercomputer simulation techniques, that the risk of infection can be reduced by 95% in indoor environments.

One of the issues many small restaurants and pubs face is they lease their place of business, as it is often part of a larger building, and are reliant on the building owners for clean fresh air delivered from the central HVAC system. Additionally, many business in NH do not use an air-based heating/cooling system, instead using hydronic or steam as heat in the winter. In these environments, it is essential to add local air cleaners to the environment to reduce the spread of pathogens, which can survive as airborne particles for hours. The addition of one or two of these units in a room can reduce the probability of airborne pathogen transmission to near zero.

As winter approaches, it will be more difficult to introduce fresh air into our restaurants and pubs. With declining outside temperatures, opening windows and/or introducing cold fresh air into a buildings heating system will be prohibitive in cost. A very good solution to this problem is to filter the indoor air as much as possible. Solutions like those from Air Cleaners Inc. represent a cost-effective means for achieving that goal.

For more information: www.aircleanersinc.com