Cleamix Oy Supplies H2O2 Decontamination for Korea Center for Disease Control

Vaisala Analyzer for H2O2, Temperature and Humidity

Ontex Constructing  80 Million Mask per Year Plant in Belgium

Ultra-Pure PM 0.1 Mask Filter from Asiatic Fiber Corporation

Orum International has New and Improved Microbiological Sampler

New Isolation Modules for Healthcare Facilities

Perkins and Will Helps in Analyzing Facility Capabilities

M+A Architects Helps Hospitals Install Additional Filtration

HGA Designing Prefabricated Modular Patient Rooms for Four Facilities

American Institute of Architects Launches Pandemic Task Force

HDM Global has Anti-Microbial Coatings for Floors, Furniture and Textiles

 

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Cleamix Oy Supplies H2O2 Decontamination for Korea Center for Disease Control

Recent bio-decontamination work performed by Cleamix Oy at Korea’s Centers for Disease Control has validated hydrogen peroxide vapor bio-decontaminations in early 2020 during the coronavirus outbreak. The Cleamix bio-decontamination units are portable, highly efficient hydrogen peroxide vapor generators. The generators use Vaisala’s HPP270 series probes to automatically control vapor output during bio-decontamination. The probes also provide stable, accurate monitoring data that allows operators to observe process conditions in real-time.

Cleamix CEO Panu Wilska described the company’s work with Korea’s Centers for Disease Control (KCDC) in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

“The KCDC has Biosafety level 2 and 3 laboratories with a total volume 2500 m3,” says Wilska. “Our bio-decontamination contract with our local partner BioAll included both laboratories. The labs were about equal in size, with multiple separate rooms, airlocks and corridors. To decontaminate the spaces we used four portable networked Cleamix vapor generators.”

Biosafety laboratories are used to study contagious materials safely; with protective measures for personnel and to prevent contamination. Biosafety labs are designed and operated in compliance with laws, policies, regulations, and guidelines for research into infectious agents. This research is needed to understand pathogens in order to produce vaccines and other treatments.

There are four levels of biosafety that define the type of research that can be performed and the safety measures that must be employed. These levels are based on the practices, processes and systems that provide protection from the pathogens being researched. From BSL-1 to BSL- 4, the protective barriers and processes increase. Biosafety level 1 covers work with microorganisms that present a minimal threat. Biosafety level 2 laboratories research agents with a moderate risk. Extra cautions and protections are used, with added constraints on access and processes. BSL-2 labs use biosafety cabinets and other containment systems.

During the bio-decontamination process, the HPP270 probes showed that the H₂O₂ concentration was rising quite rapidly,” says Wilska. “The average treatment time per segmented area was seventy-five minutes, plus aeration time. Aeration was very fast as we could have the air conditioning system turned on after each treatment. The process was validated by biological indicators to have achieved a 6-log kill.

Vaisala Analyzer for H2O2, Temperature and Humidity

A new innovation is called PEROXCAP®, for measuring vaporized hydrogen peroxide, temperature, relative saturation and relative humidity. The PEROXCAP^® sensor is implemented in the HPP270 series probes that are intended for ecological hydrogen peroxide bio-decontamination applications.

This unique technology enables accurate and repeatable measurement of the bio-decontamination cycle with one single probe.

Ontex Constructing  80 Million Mask per Year Plant in Belgium

Ontex will start the production of face masks by September 2020, with a capacity of around 80 million IIR-type surgical face masks per year, the Belgium-based hygiene product manufacturer has announced.

 

“We invest in the production of surgical face masks to support caregivers and other essential workers,” said Annick De Poorter, Ontex’s vice president for R&D, Quality and Sustainability. “We want to help protect these people, including Ontex employees, who keep society going by providing essential goods and services.”

The surgical face masks of the IIR type, which are typically used in hospitals, are planned to be produced on a line at Ontex’s factory in Eeklo, Belgium in accordance with applicable regulations. Ontex has ordered specialized machinery and is training staff to get certified for production and start producing face masks in September or earlier. The new production is Ontex’s own initiative and receives no government funding.

In order to offer face mask sourcing options for caregivers and other essential workers before September, Ontex is providing local authorities a direct contact with a trusted face mask supplier which it is using as well. Ontex provides this assistance to the extent allowed, as some governments have strict regulations whereby only their competent administrations are entitled to coordinate the sourcing of protective gear against COVID-19.

Ultra-Pure PM 0.1 Mask Filter from Asiatic Fiber Corporation

The mask filter has three layers, and each layer has its unique purpose. The outer layer is air-droplets blocker, that can preliminarily filter the majority of particles and air-droplets. The second layer is an AFC® filter pad, it embraces air-in area and air-out valve, to create an PM 2.5 filtration effect. The base layer is anti-bacterial layer, and it also brings anti-odor and anti-static effect (to diminish the adherence of particle). The anti-bacterial is a long-lasting and durable for several times of laundry. This mask filter is being tested that can effectively block, filter and form an excellent barrier of air-droplets, micro-particle, bacterial, dust, pollen and smog

Features：

·         Triple filtration, BFE & PFE ≥ 99%, tested by Nelson labs

·         PM 2.5 level, effectively filtering micro-particle and smog

·         Centralized air exchange area, to enhance filtering effect

·         Exceptional air valve design, brings comfort without sweltering

·         Long-lasting anti-bacterial, remains 99% even after 50 times laundry

·         Multi-functional fiber, brings anti-bacterial, anti-odor and anti-static (less particle adherence)*BFE = Bacterial Filtration Efficiency; PFE = Particle Filtration Efficiency

          *PM = Particulate Matter 

Orum International has New and Improved Microbiological Sampler

In the 80’s the company designed, created and patented the first portable microbiological air sampler which became the reference tool for monitoring the microbiological contamination of the air.

After creating the first portable sampler, the Company today introduces a new model the TRIO.BAS (patented), taking advantage of the gained experience, together with the new technologies and application needs.

TRIO.BAS is a new portable instrument, unique in the market.

Features of Trio. Bass are displayed below.

New Isolation Modules for Healthcare Facilities

Rather than converting existing buildings into patient care facilities, some designers have decided to create new systems for emergency intensive care. CURA pods are one such solution. CURA (Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments) is an open-source design for emergency COVID-19 hospitals initiated by a team of architects, engineers, doctors, and military experts and currently being built in Milan. The pods use repurposed 20-foot shipping containers turned into biocontainment pods and are easily deployable in cities around the world. While each unit functions autonomously, individual pods can be connected by an inflatable structure to create modular configurations and would contain all the equipment needed for two patients including ventilators. The best part—they can be deployed in just a few hours in parking lots or as self-standing field hospitals.

Jupe, Inc., a flat-packed housing startup built for crisis and disaster response, has also developed a mobile recovery unit in response to hospital overcrowding. JUPE Health are a series of three recovery spaces designed for both healthcare workers and quarantined patients including JUPE Rest (sleeping unit), JUPE Care (recovery unit for non-critical patients), and JUPE Plus (a stand-alone intensive care unit). JUPE Health can deploy up to 24 units with a 40-foot flatbed and pickup truck and up to 500,000 on a single cargo ship. The efforts are led by physician Dr. Esther Choo (of #GetMePPE), designer Cameron Sinclair, and modular housing entrepreneur Jeff Wilson.

Perkins and Will Helps in Analyzing Facility Capabilities

For Seattle-based Perkins and Will principal Brad Hinthorne, AIA, assisting his clients in the Pacific Northwest—one of the first regions in the U.S. to experience a surge of COVID-19 patients—had little to do with design plans or construction in the early phases. Instead, hospital systems needed help organizing incoming data. “It really started with helping them get real-time data of how many places they could accommodate cases across their system,” Hinthorne says. To address this need, Perkins and Will created dashboards with “graphics that their C-suite could use in their command center to help manage the day-to-day work they were doing,” he says.

Perkins and Will has also been fielding calls from health care clients “asking about how they can rework their MEP systems to make more patient rooms negative pressure,” says Marvina Williams, a registered nurse and health care operations specialist based in Perkins and Will’s Atlanta office. “They're looking closely at how they can turn patient floors into negative pressure floors for really sick patients that have COVID-19 symptoms.”

Some hospitals were designed with the capacity to convert emergency rooms and non-critical care units to rapid-response and intensive care units.

As an example, Williams points to the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, which Perkins and Will designed with bioterrorism and surge preparedness. At Rush, doors to the ambulance bay can be closed to create a COVID-19 triage area to limit exposure to other emergency room patients. In case of a surge, the ER was designed to be acuity adaptable with structural columns fitted with electrical outlets and to handle medical gases. “The emergency room is divided into three zones and set up for cordoned-off negative-pressure areas,” Williams explains. “If 20 beds are needed for negative pressure, they can do that. If they need 20 more, they can continue on.”

However, the reality of transforming or creating more urgent-care facilities quickly to address COVID-19 surges is sobering. “Even if you wanted to do it by hospital room, the majority of the infrastructure on a campus is not designed for these types of loads,” Hinthorne explains. Instead, cities and hospital systems are setting out to optimize existing infrastructure and invest in alternative spaces for less critically ill patients. “Creating critical care settings outside of a hospital is incredibly challenging,” Rogers says. “We would get more value from using non-hospital settings for supporting lower acuity care, for supporting non-infectious care, for supporting staff who need a place to sleep.”

It is important to share the new expertise with cities experiencing later COVID-19 surges and for future design projects. Perkins and Will’s client Providence Health & Services, which operates 50 hospitals in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, New Mexico, and Texas, is already sharing relevant data and lessons across their various facilities.

M+A Architects Helps Hospitals Install Additional Filtration

Elizabeth Koelker who works for M+A Architects as its Director of Healthcare and Higher education studio has worked on previous projects at Central Ohio hospitals and ERs.

"We are dedicated to healthcare architecture," said Koelker. "They're really approaching the preparation for the influx of COVID-19 patients very holistically and converting existing medical, surgical care rooms to ICU rooms is really just one of the things they're doing."

She said she's working with Central Ohio Healthcare systems to prepare for large waves of patients. However, she would not name which facilities she's working with.

The work includes advising them on restructuring ICUs and ERs, using separate entrances and elevators for COVID-19 patients, creating separate wards and even re-working HVAC systems.

"They are able to install additional filtration to capture any of the particles that may get into the systems," said Koelker.

She said it's a lot of work but it's nothing our hospitals can't handle. "They have plans that they've put in place in the past already to begin to understand how to begin for surges like this. Now it's a matter of addressing it in a very short period of time."

HGA Designing Prefabricated Modular Patient Rooms for Four Facilities

The Boldt Company, a contractor in Appleton, Wisconsin, is prefabricating modular structures, designed by the firm HGA, that meet the need for speed without the sanitation and ventilation problems of tents. STAAT Mod, as the units are called, can be delivered on a standard truck trailer. They contain two finished patient rooms and a bathroom, along with medical and HVAC infrastructure that meet the negative-pressure standards for AII rooms.

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Virtual reality simulations allowed health-care professionals and HGA process engineers to weigh in on the validity of the designs, even as social-distancing orders precluded in-person meetings and the construction of physical prototypes. Projects are currently under way at four sites, with the first 16-bed configuration planned to be operational the first week of May.

American Institute of Architects Launches Pandemic Task Force

The American Institute of Architects has launched a task force to consult on how to adapt buildings into healthcare facilities during the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative by American Institute of Architects (AIA) was created in response to Covid-19 in the US, which now leads the world in confirmed cases.

The task force is intended to provide information on how to convert existing buildings into temporary healthcare facilities to treat those suffering from the virus.

"On a daily basis, I am hearing from our architects who feel a deep sense of moral duty to support our healthcare providers on the frontlines of this pandemic," said AIA president Jane Frederick.

"As our communities assess buildings to address growing surge capacity, we hope this task force will be a resource to ensure buildings are appropriately and safely adapted for our doctors and nurses."

Kirsten Waltz, the director of facilities, planning and design at Massachusetts healthcare nonprofit Baystate Health, is working with the task force to advise how to modify hospitals and smaller facilities to meet the surging demand of beds, as well as design more medical screening and triage areas.

"This is a race against time for healthcare facilities to meet bed surge capacity needs," Waltz said. “This task force will help inform best practices for quickly assessing building inventory and identifying locations that are most appropriate to be adapted for this crisis."

Environmental health scientist and architect Molly Scanlon, who is chair of AIA's task force, said that many more places are needed to treat the number of people that will be affected. "During the Covid-19 pandemic public health response there is an unprecedented need for the adaptive reuse of buildings to serve a variety of functions," she said.

"Architects and our allied design and construction professionals are in a unique position to leverage our advanced problem-solving skills to bring forth ideas for community implementation."

The AIA is also developing a Covid-19 report called the Rapid Response Safety Space Assessment for members to use to consider the suitability of buildings and spaces sites for relevant care.

HDM Global has Anti-Microbial Coatings for Floors, Furniture and Textiles

There are seven main areas fielded by the Coatings Corporation of HDM Global Corporation. The coatings provide sterilizing properties against human pathogens. From hygienic textile applications, anti-viral epoxy flooring and paints, to bedbug eradication, fixed mold abatement, hands-on training and more, HDM Coatings Corp. is quickly surpassing its mission to “Embrace Global Purity.” Main Areas of HDM Coatings are

• Professional corporate training for product applications
• Hygienic and biocidal epoxy flooring additive
• Textile coatings including bedbug and insect eradication
• Hygienic transportation industry interiors with anti-viral properties
• Safe and pure offset printing varnish inks and prints
• Fixed safe mold and mildew abatement
• Pure, anti-viral painting applications: Industrial, Commercial and Residential

 

Textile sprays are used to protect interiors of automobiles, trains, buses, airplanes, and more. Our textile spray will add a necessary, hygienic, and anti-viral layer of protection. HDM’s textile sprays guard against bedbugs, insects, and pathogens of many types in any level of public or private transportation.