Could you make your business safer with humidification?
A study from Condair has shown that raising air humidity by humidification could reduce the risk of virus spread in hospitals and other buildings.
Coronavirus is closely related to the SARS virus, laboratories around the world can use information already known about the SARS virus to develop tests.
Dr Walter Hugentobler, FMH general physician and Dr Stephanie Taylor, Harvard Medical School, medical advisors for Condair Group have explained how humidity can affect viruses similar to coronavirus 2019-CoV.
“The survival times of SARS coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and as infectious droplets in the air have been studied. An identical pattern has appeared repeatedly. Very low temperatures (tested at 6°C) and very low humidity (30 percent) enable viruses to survive for long periods on surfaces and in the air.
Even at moderate temperatures of 20-30°C, there was a long survival time, but only when the air was dry. Very high temperatures (>30°C) render the coronaviruses inactive. This is why there have been repeated MERS epidemics on the Arabian Peninsula solely during the cooler winter months.
It is assumed that the current Coronavirus will also exhibit similar behaviour in relation to humidity and temperature. The rate of transmission from human to human is influenced by indoor conditions.”
Conditions in homes and on public transport, where the air is typically heated for comfort with relatively low humidity are ideal environmental conditions for these types of viruses to survive on surfaces and in the air. Humidification of facilities could be effective in the intervention to reduce the spread of this new coronavirus strain.
Check out the study and its results here www.condairgroup.com/humidity-health-wellbeing/scientific-studies/effects-of-air-temperature-and-relative-humidity-on-coronavirus-survival-on-surfaces
