COVID-19: About air Purifiers Capturing Coronavirus and Ways to Avoid the Disease

Chinese coronavirus, also known as Wuhan pneumonia, has become one of the hottest topics. As panic across the globe increases, manufacturers seek new business opportunities. Some are more absurd than others, but there are some that are straight up deceitful. This concerns certain air purifier producers claiming that a household air purifier can and will protect their home fr om coronavirus disease 

Coronavirus fr om SARS/MERS family is conquering the world country by country. With public panic on the rise, air purifier manufacturers speculate on people’s fears and promote every product as one, capable of eliminating the dreadful virion. True or false? Let’s find out!

Information about Coronavirus floods every possible content delivery platform. We all seem to have become microbiologists a little bit. In case you don't quite get what the issue is, we’ve got an article that explains it "What is Coronavirus and What Hazards Does it Present to Humans?”

But, now let's figure out what works against COVID-19 and what doesn't.

It's all Just a Little bit of History Repeating

It looks like 17 years old events are being replayed. Remember, when the FDA issued a warning aiming to stop marketers fr om sending false hopes to people? Advertisers claimed their air cleaning products can keep people safe from SARS. Some producers of air purifiers spread faulty claims about their products. With a lot of speculation going on nowadays, let’s find out what really works and what does not at all. 

What Does not Help to Fight COVID-19?

As numbers of COVID-19-infected patients grow across the USA and the territories, more manufacturers promote household air purifiers as an efficient means against the virus. Nevertheless, industry professionals claim HEPA may not be as effective as we want it to be when dealing with viruses. 

Hepa Will not cut it

A classic high-quality HEPA filter is capable of eliminating up to 99% of indoor air pollutants that float around in your home air: pet dander, dust, fluff, shedding skin and hair, excessive perfume, kitchen cooking smells, mold spores, outdoor exhaust gas, bacteria, dust mites waste, etc. 

So, HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) still stays just an awesome way to improve your indoor air quality. Unfortunately, viruses like COVID-19, SARS, MERS are much smaller than dust mite residue and bacteria, thus incredibly difficult to trap.

With all the wishful thinking we’ve got, the maximum HEPA can promise is a possibility of trapping the coronavirus, but eliminating it is not an easy business. Just plain HEPA does not have the guts, to put it in simple language. 

Molekule has Only Just Started Testing for COVID-19 Elimination Capacity

Even with so much hype around popular (and also quite pricey) air cleaning solutions, especially in connection to recent worldwide pandemic events, industry giants like Molekule fail to deliver and they do not hide it. As new reports on coronavirus dreadful journey travel across the globe, air purifier manufacturers induce quicker testing, but it is all they can do for now. The most they are capable of at the moment is claim assumptions and keep testing on proxies (similar particles that closely mimic the COVID-19). 

How about Dyson?

Dyson air purifier is another well written-about device that is said to be the only thing you’ll ever need for air purification purposes. 

As we know the novel coronavirus belongs to the family of coronaviruses the world is familiar with. SARS and MERS viruses are known to be sized 0.1 microns, while the size of COVID-19 is around 0.125 microns. 

Dyson claimed this size absolutely falls into their air purification machine capacity, but unfortunately, Dyson air purifier does not kill the virus itself. 

Other experts say the virus is way too small to be trapped by a household air purifier, even a very good one. The filter in an average air purifier is not capable of catching anything under 0.2 microns, and coronavirus is 0.1 in size.

Known to possess high surface resiliency, coronavirus will remain intact:

1. for just above three hours in the air;
2. 4 hours on a copper surface;
3. 24 hours on cardboard;
4. plastic and stainless steel surfaces will keep the virus viable from 2 to 3 days. 

This way, depending on what type of surface within a Dyson machine coronavirus ends up on, it will stay viable for some time. The representatives advise on replacing the filters on a regular basis. Knowing we want to get rid of it right away, what will it end up costing an average citizen? Let this question remain rhetorical for now. 

What Does Work Against COVID-19?

A UV germicidal lamp is an excellent tool against a wide range of airborne diseases including the coronavirus. Ozone generation is another way to fight the coronavirus. We recommend considering the time of exposure with UV light and adhere to the concentration requirements with ozone generators.

Inactivating Viruses With Ozone

Various air purifiers use many approaches to capture and kill viral infections. Some manufacturers use ultraviolet light to destroy it. Such ultraviolet cleaners are actually capable of destroying viruses, bacteria, fungus, and other harmful biological objects. Ultraviolet is quite aggressive towards virions as well, it damages their DNA/RNA and destroys bacteria.

In the comparative research of ultraviolet light impact on viruses, it was discovered that coronavirus aerosols were much more sensitive to ultraviolet light than adenovirus, for instance. The efficacy of impact did not shift with changes in room humidity. Which means that UV light fights the virus under various weather and humidity conditions. 

A public transport company based in Shanghai has leveraged powerful UV lamps to sterilize public transport. This helps to effectively disinfect buses, using no manpower whatsoever. China National Health Commission authorities claim that the coronavirus prompting Covid-19 shows sensitivity to UV light and high temperature. 

The Effect of Ozone on Viruses

Ozone air purifiers use ozone as a destructive effect on viruses. The practical use of ozone is based on its strong oxidizing and sterilizing effects. Under the influence of ozone bacteria, fungal formations and viruses get destroyed. Ozonated air is used to disinfect spaces, eliminate unpleasant odors, sterilize drinking water, air conditioning purposes.

Ozonation is the process of producing strong bactericidal ozone concentration, which allows destroying all viruses and bacteria in the room within a relatively short period of time. The use of air ozonation allows disinfecting air and surfaces with high efficiency of up to 99.9%. That is, it is the most effective tool to combat various microorganisms that cause infectious diseases.

The proportion of live viruses on the surface in all treated spaces decreases exponentially with increasing ozone levels.

How to not get Coronavirus

Coronavirus is transferred in a similar way to many other respiratory tract infections. You run the risk of getting sick when an infected person coughs or sneezes by your side. Also, if you accidentally bring your hand to your lips, nose or eyes after shaking hands or touching the surfaces wh ere the virus has settled (the same applies to door knobes or handrails in vehicles).

In order not to get sick (not only with coronavirus but also with any other SARS/MERS family viruses), try to complete the following routines on a daily basis:

• Spend as little time as possible in confined spaces with a lot of people. If you can do without using public transport, underground, crowded shopping centers and so on, do it.

• Ventilate/aerate the room wh ere you spend the day more often than usual. This will reduce the concentration of viruses in the air considerably.

• Try avoiding people who seem to have a cold.

• Avoid touching surrounding objects in public places at all times.

• Keep yourself from the habit of sticking your hands to your face.

• Handwashing is important. Use warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds. If there is no access to water and soap, use alcohol-based hand sanitizers. The same exposure time applies.

• Dress accordingly to the weather. Getting cold means increasing your chances of getting a cold or respiratory tract infections. 

What air Purifier Should I Choose to Protect Against the Coronavirus?

Purifiers can be different in terms of methodology and effects. 

Mechanical air purification simply provides a physical barrier. It is not small enough to filter out viruses.

HEPA filters are used for this purpose the most often. They capture large particles like dust, pollen and animal dander. But in our case, this type of filter will not handle the task. HEPA filters do not stop virions.

Adsorbent filters (activated carbon filters for instance) should retain harmful gas impurities. True, but not every time. For example, you cannot protect yourself from radon using adsorbent filtering systems. The virus is not sensitive to adsorbent filters either.

Electrostatic filters give even smaller air pollution particles a charge so they are attracted to the “collector”. Ionizers work similarly. The only difference being — they release ions outwards, wh ere they attach to various airborne particles. Those, in turn, eventually settle on surfaces in the room. 

This is still not what can fight the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. After all, electrostatic filters do not affect viruses in any way.

The photocatalytic filter: an ultraviolet lamp acts on the catalyst (usually titanium dioxide) and as a result, some gases turn into safer compounds. But filters like this do not fight against virions. Unfortunately.

Why Ecoquest Fresh Air and Breeze 2 Work Against Coronavirus?

Ecoquest air cleaning equipment utilizes ozone and ultraviolet light to disinfect and completely inactivate (destroy) various contaminants: bacteria, viruses, pollen, odors, and other pollutants. 

Ultraviolet light in the Ecoquest Fresh Air model is created using integrated UV lamps located inside the disinfecting cleaner: 

1. Broad-spectrum high-intensity UVX lamp

2. Germicidal 254 nm hv UVX light.

Thanks to the ActivePure RCI camera innovation technology an Ecoquest air purifier fights air contaminants 7 to 10 times more effectively than any average counterpart. The duration of exposure allows you to completely destroy viruses, as well as a variety of bacteria, fungi and other harmful biological objects.

The efficacy of Ecoquest Fresh Air and Breeze 2 has been investigated and tested in the fight against norovirus:

This ensures the complete sterility of the HEPA filter and eliminates the risk of re-entry of active pathogens into the room atmosphere.

The Ecoquest air purifier is equipped with a UV lamp and an adsorption-catalytic filter, which effectively traps excessive ozone and prevents it from leaving the device. The capture is highly efficient, the air at the outlet has a lower concentration of ozone than at the inlet of the device. Ecoquest air purifier, designed on the basis of unique patented technologies, allows achieving medical standards for air purification, which is confirmed by a variety of certificates and tests.

To Conclude

To cap it all we should mention that the worst thing you can do at the moment of this global health crisis is to give away to panic or false news. Keep our information pool clean and your head cold. You know well what can be done to avoid contamination. Let common sense drive your actions.