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Infectious aerosols in room air represent a risk factor that has not been sufficiently acknowledged up to now.
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High-performance air purifiers with H14 high-performance filters from Trotec can be used immediately to provide maximum protection against infection
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The technology developed in Germany is available immediately and can be adapted as a solution for the entire industry
239 scientists from a total of 32 countries sent an open letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The letter to be published in the trade journal Clinical Infectious Diseases next week is very direct and may have far-reaching consequences for infection prevention in the economy: The scientists are asking the WHO to adapt their recommendations regarding the air transmission of the coronavirus and to take this risk of infection into account in their prevention plans. The signing scientists believe that the risk of infection via the air is not sufficiently taken into account. And that although there are sufficient studies and research results worldwide that do not allow any other conclusion and although there is now scientific consensus that high-performance air purifiers such as the TAC V+ from Trotec can significantly reduce the risk of infection in closed rooms. However, there are still no legal requirements that oblige a company to protect against infection.
The WHO insists that the virus spreads mainly through droplets and direct contact and only to a small extent via aerosols. According to the authors of the letter, this is a dangerous error causing new victims every day because insufficient protective measures are ordered.
Scientists agree: 80 percent of the infections take place via aerosols
“It’s time to start talking about airborne Covid-19 transmission” says the letter, which refers to the high risk of infection through indoor air. More precisely to the risk of so-called aerosols, a mixture comprising gas (usually air) and solid or liquid constituents, which, in infected persons, contain viruses. These tiny suspended particles are released into the room during breathing and talking. While larger droplets sink to the ground after just 1.5 meters due to their weight, infectious aerosol particles sometimes float in the air for several hours due to their small size – and are inhaled!
An infection risk that has not yet been discussed adequately in scientific depth, also according to Prof. Martin Exner. Martin Exner is director of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn (Germany) and is currently investigating the infection process at Tönnies, Germany’s largest meat producer, with employees of the State Center for Health and the Robert Koch Institute.
High-performance air purifiers from Trotec already protect industry and business from the dangers and consequences of a corona outbreak in the company
“What is not known so far: Circulating air can keep an aerosol in motion – this represents a previously overlooked risk factor.” Conventional air-conditioning systems have only a coarse filtration, which is not able to filter out airborne viruses, according to Prof. Exner in an analysis of the infection transmission at Tönnies. Help should now be provided by the innovative TAC V+ air purification technology from Trotec, whose mobile and decentralised high-performance filtration ensures that the germ-laden room air of the slaughterhouse is kept free of airborne microorganisms like the SARS CoV-2 virus.
The scientists mainly base their letter to the WHO on the Corona outbreak at Germany’s largest meat producer Tönnies in Rheda-Widerbück, where more than 1,500 employees have been infected with the coronavirus. However, new infections in restaurants, churches or bars are also being reported elsewhere, which could have been prevented by “suitable” hygiene concepts and technical solutions. Trotec provides the necessary technology. The new TAC V+ air purifiers are now used worldwide to protect employees, customers and guests against the inhalation of infectious indoor air.
The principle of Trotec TAC V+ high-performance filtration
A critical factor in the risk of infection with the coronavirus is how long the virus-laden aerosols remain in the room air. Because as opposed to the open air, where aerosol mixtures are diluted and replaced with fresh air by the air motion, the aerosol concentration remains continually high in closed rooms. The more aerosols are suspended in the air – and the longer they remain so – the faster these enter the body via the respiratory tract to cause an infection in the lungs. Around 50,000 particles, such as dust or pollen but also bacteria and viruses, are suspended in just one cubic centimetre of air. And the aerosol concentration in the room increases by thousands of particles per minute with each additional employee in the room.
Put simply, the TAC V+ air purifier transforms the air situation outdoors to the situation in closed rooms and extends this by a highly efficient virus filtration and inactivation.
The air filtration concept behind the TAC V+ air purifier tested in clinical trials is based on two pillars:
- On the one hand, the aerosol concentration in the room air is continuously diluted with virus-filtered HEPA ultrapure air. To this end, the purifier has a high ultrapure air capacity – previously unmatched in mobile devices – which enables an air exchange rate up to 20 times per hour.
- In addition, airborne viruses and bacteria are first separated in an innovative, heat-resistant HEPA particulate filter and then killed off cyclically by thermal decontamination. This special filter of protection class 14 exclusively developed by Trotec is distinguished by a separation efficiency of 99.995 percent for particle sizes from 0.1 to 0.2 µm. Thanks to these features, H14 high-performance filters are even used to produce clean air in operating theatres and in similar hygiene-sensitive areas.
What sounds very technical in theory proves to be extremely simple in practice. The draught-free intake of polluted room air occurs close to the floor, and then the virus-free ultrapure air is returned vertically upwards into the room. The mobile design even allows for the creation of large areas of ultrapure air without hazardous aerosol contamination through the use of several TAC V+ air purifiers.
The WHO response can have far-reaching consequences
It remains to be seen how the World Health Organisation will respond to the letter from the scientists. Should the WHO change its opinion and adequately take into account the aerogenic risk of infection from aerosols in its future recommendations, this would lead to a complete reassessment of the currently required protective measures. Trade, industry and authorities could be legally obliged to install appropriate air purification systems. The current discussion about the abolition of the mask requirement would also have to be reopened.
The TAC V+ mobile air purifier is available in several colours and equipment variants in the Trotec shop and in all of the European Trotec branches.
Would you like more information? Feel free to talk to us personally:
Trotec STORE
Grebbener Straße 7
52525 Heinsberg
Germany
Tel. +49 2452 962-400
E-Mail: store.heinsberg@trotec.com
