With the end of the EU-wide lockdowns, fitness studios have now reopened too, after a long forced break. However, nothing is the same as before. In order to comply with the social distancing rules, many training devices are cordoned off with barrier tape. The snack bar is still shut, and the course rooms are deserted. Only the really hardened fitness fanatics can gain positive results from this training atmosphere. Usually, frustration about the limited training options prevails, sometimes with dramatic consequences for studio operators: while the number of redundancies already rose noticeably during the closures ordered by the authorities, the wave of redundancies remains painfully high in many places even after reopening. The fear of infection with the coronavirus is too great and the restrictions in the studio are too severe.
Reality has caught up with outdated hygiene concepts
Even while the numerous fitness clubs were still fine-tuning their supposedly safe hygiene concepts for reopening with disinfectors, the disinfection and spacing rules they were proposing were overhauled by the latest scientific findings. Neither droplet nor smear infection is the main transmission path for the coronavirus, but the room air that everyone shares in closed rooms. Neither disinfecting machines nor distancing rules can protect against this danger.
The new TAC V+ air purifier with special HEPA filter technology promises a remedy. This mobile air purifier protects those training from inhaling the infectious aerosols that experts believe are largely responsible for spreading the virus.
80 percent of all corona infections occur via the air
Looking at the percentage distribution of the virus’ transmission paths, it is obvious why many formerly loyal customers are now “parting ways” with their studio. In an interview with the German daily newspaper Rheinische Post, Dr. Thomas Voshaar (medical advisor to the German Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn) clarifies that about 80 % of corona infections occur via indoor air.
More precisely, these infections occur by way of so-called aerosols, a mixture of gas (usually air) and solid or liquid components that contain viruses in sick athletes. These tiny floating particles are mainly released into the air when breathing and speaking. The intensified and for the most part ragged breathing during strength training or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) further increases this effect. While larger droplets sink to the ground after travelling only about 1.5 meters due to their weight (hence the distancing rule of 1.5 m between machines), aerosol particles float in the studio for up to several hours due to their small size (about 0.3-0.4 µm). The situation is further aggravated by the fact that even more aerosol particles are produced in the lungs of infected persons and released via respiration.
Aerosol particles are considered to pose the greatest infection risk in fitness studios
Decisive for the infection risk in studios is the length of time for which viral aerosols float around in the room air and are inhaled. This is because in contrast to outdoor air, where aerosol mixtures are diluted with clean fresh air and blown away by air circulation, the aerosol concentration in the studios, some of which are open 24/7, remains constantly high. 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 with each extra training partner in the studio, the aerosol concentration in the room increases by thousands of particles per minute.
The customers are therefore rightly demanding a safety and hygiene policy adapted to the current situation before they resume their training in the studio without worrying.
TAC V+ air purifier creates virus-free training areas – without distancing rules
The TAC V+ high-performance air purifier with HEPA filter, developed especially for use in fitness studios by Trotec, ensures that the latest scientific findings are also taken into account.
In hospitals and medical practices, high-frequency air purification with HEPA filters have long been regarded as proven protection against infection. With the TAC V+ air purifier, Trotec has developed the world’s first mobile high-frequency air purifier with HEPA filter technology, making the high protection level of filter class 14 affordable for gyms, climbing gyms and indoor sports facilities. According to Voshaar, simple air conditioning units offer no protection, as they are usually only equipped with simple dirt filters. Only with HEPA special filters to filter infectious aerosol mixtures from the rooms can the room air be reliably kept clean.
“Initial investigations are underway. And it seems that special filters can filter the aerosols from the rooms. The first tests will soon be carried out in hospitals to determine whether the air in a room in which an infected person is present can be kept clean of aerosols using this type of filter. And this could then also be used in offices, so that more people can work there safely again,” says Voshaar in the interview. And what protects staff in hospitals and employees in companies also helps fitness studios to return to normal operation comparatively safely.
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 unattained with mobile devices – this enabling 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.
Put simply, the air purifier brings the outdoor air condition indoors, and then supplements it with highly efficient virus filtration and inactivation.
What sounds very technical in theory proves to be really simple in practice. The draught-free intake of polluted room air occurs close to the floor, the ultrapure air free of viruses then being returned vertically upwards into the room. Thanks to the mobile design enabling several TAC V+ air purifiers to be used, even large areas of ultrapure air without hazardous aerosol contamination can be realised.
The TAC V+ mobile air purifier is available in several colours and equipment variants in the Trotec shop, as well as in any of Trotec branches across Europe.
Special conditions apply to schools, public institutions and hospitals when purchasing or renting the device. Feel free to talk to us personally:
Special conditions apply to schools, public institutions and hospitals when purchasing or renting the device. Please do not hesitate to contact us personally:
Trotec GmbH, Herr Jochem Weingartz
+49 2452 962-137, jochem.weingartz@trotec.com
Trotec STORE
