McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Ale

Short-waved UVC Irradiation is Highly Effective for Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 Viruses

Antimicrobial Door Handle Cover Available from Teknomek

Cherwell Laboratories Optimistic About Viable Air Monitors

Fibre Extrusion Technology Says There May Be Better Answers Than Polypropylene for Meltblowns

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We live in a world where the coronavirus plays a major role now and for the foreseeable future. What we are finding is that this virus can travel in small droplets released by the lungs or on small particles of which there is no shortage. We breath in and exhale millions of tiny particles every hour. With this new finding we need to turn to the cleanroom experts who have been focused on eliminating small particles from the air for 60 years.

These experts and the products and services they offer provide an essential resource for mitigating the virus. McIlvaine is assisting by providing the suppliers with forecasts of the market opportunities in the broader vision of the world as one big coronavirus clean room market.

Coronavirus Pharmaceutical Solutions tracks the progress to develop vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Bi-weekly Alerts are accompanied by detailed profiles of the developers and contract manufacturers who make mitigation possible. June 3 Alert, Gilead

All three of these services are being offered as a package and included with the World Cleanroom Markets report at no extra charge.

A supplier needs all three of these services to fully understand the opportunities and challenges created by COVID.

“A room in which the concentration of airborne particles is controlled, and which is constructed and used in a manner to minimize the introduction, generation, and retention of particles inside the room and in which other relevant parameters, e.g. temperature, humidity, and pressure, are controlled as necessary”

6.2 million people have contracted COVID 19 in the last six months. 380,000 have died. With a problem of this magnitude caused in large part by an airborne virus we have to be thinking of the world as one big facility which needs to adopt cleanroom technology. The same strategy can be applied as would be applied to a pharmaceutical complex.

In a pharmaceutical facility there is likely to be a progression of clean spaces.

Ambient air in a typical city contains 500,000 or less particles 0.3 microns in diameter in each cubic foot. It also contains millions of smaller particles. An individual inhales the air with the particles and then exhales the CO2 and sends the particles back into the environment. A super spreader can be generating thousands of virus aerosols per minute. Some will be in small droplets caused by lung splashes. They may travel hundreds of yards. Those which attach to small particles can drift over a whole region e.g. Lombardy, Italy. There is no knowledge as to what percentage is inactivated by distance traveled and what percentage is just dormant and ready to be revived in lung moisture.

There is research which indicates that the disease can be transmitted by as few as 10 virus particles. On the other hand experts say that most is contracted through contact with large numbers of particles. As long as some of the COVID transmission is through aerosols there will be no fool proof way to prevent COVID transmission. A mitigation program has to therefore accept some risk and minimize the transmission as much as is economically possible.

This is the same strategy used in a pharmaceutical facility. Many pharmaceutical operations take place in space where the number of 0.3 micron particles is limited to 100 or less. Within that space there may be isolators where there is less than one 0.3 micron particle per cubic foot. When one leaves a less clean space and enters a cleaner area there are possibly air showers, garment changing and other procedures.

The decision on how clean to make each space is a function of risk and cost. The same principle applies to dealing with COVID. The protection effort needed on a crowded subway is much greater than a sparsely inhabited park. Suppliers have products to address varying levels of risk and reduction.

An advantage of the packaging of the three services is to determine the impact of one on the others. The massive effort to create vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID means that there will be reduced cleanroom revenues for cancer and other biopharmaceuticals.

For more details on this package contact Bob McIlvaine at 847 226 2391 or email him at 847 226 2391.

CWS has posted information on coronavirus tenacity at https://www.cws.com/en-IE/news/how-long-does-coronavirus-survive-surfaces-2020-05-28. Currently, nobody knows exactly how long SARS CoV-2 - as the virus is correctly named - "survives" on surfaces or, better, how long SARS CoV-2 remains infectious on a surface. This depends on its tenacity. This refers to biological toughness or resistance to environmental influences.

However, the question of how long the virus remains active is very important, especially at this time, and in the cleanroom. It can only be answered by conducting experiments. There could be the following possibilities:

In fact, there is little data on the tenacity of SARS CoV-2. For the closely related coronaviruses SARS CoV-1 (causative agent of the pandemic 2002/03) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, causative agent of the epidemic on the Arabian Peninsula in 2012), a tenacity of up to 120 hours could be demonstrated in experiments.

The data for the various coronaviruses differ greatly. With regard to the environmental conditions, however, it is clear for all viruses: the tenacity decreases

The table summarizes the "survival times", i.e. the tenacity determined for different surfaces.

References: 1) CHAN et al. 2011; 2) DUAN et al. 2003; 3) LAI et al. 2003; 4) VAN DOREMALEN et al. 2013; 5) VAN DOREMALEN et al. 2020

The data unanimously show a high tenacity for the SARS CoV-2 virus, particularly on plastic and stainless steel surfaces. In principle, effective barriers already exist against the penetration of viruses into cleanrooms. However, the high "survival times" of SARS CoV 2 demand and justify further measures for surface disinfection in the cleanroom itself as well as in the access area, so that the distribution of the virus across contaminated surfaces can be limited. This applies in particular to surfaces that are frequently contacted, such as door handles, switches, door surfaces or seating. Since CoV-2 is an enveloped virus, "limited virucidal" disinfectants are suitable for additional disinfection measures. These are based on ethyl alcohol and/or isopropyl alcohol, are easy to use and reliably inactivate SARS CoV-2.

A study by University of Hongkong researchers demonstrated that airborne transmission was a major mode of transmission and that facemasks were efficient in minimizing the transmission The researchers used a well-established golden Syrian hamster SARS-CoV-2 model. They placed SARS-CoV-2-challenged index hamsters and naïve hamsters into closed system units each comprising two different cages separated by a polyvinyl chloride air porous partition with unidirectional airflow within the isolator. The effect of a surgical mask partition placed in between the cages was investigated. Besides clinical scoring, hamster specimens were tested for viral load, histopathology, and viral nucleocapsid antigen expression.

Non-contact transmission was found in 66.7% (10/15) of exposed naïve hamsters. Surgical mask partition for challenged index or naïve hamsters significantly reduced transmission to 25% (6/24, P=0.018). Surgical mask partition for challenged index hamsters significantly reduced transmission to only 16.7% (2/12, P=0.019) of exposed naïve hamsters. Unlike the severe COVID-19 manifestations of challenged hamsters, infected naïve hamsters had lower clinical scores, milder histopathological changes, and lower viral nucleocapsid antigen expression in respiratory tract tissues.

The conclusion was that SARS-CoV-2 could be transmitted by respiratory droplets or airborne droplet nuclei in the hamster model. Such transmission could be reduced by surgical mask usage, especially when masks were worn by infected individuals.

The demand for antibacterial cleaning supplies continues to climb in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and healthcare institutions are looking for effective alternatives to traditional solutions. To fill this need, Contec, the critical cleaning products and cleanroom supplies provider, is scaling up production of its Sporicidin brand disinfectant, most often used for mold and water damage remediation, and turned to diversified global manufacturer and materials science expert Milliken & Company to help produce mass quantities.

Since 1978, Sporicidin brand disinfectant products have been used for infection and contamination control by hospitals, medical and dental offices, veterinary clinics, and restoration professionals.

The EPA-registered intermediate-level disinfectant cleans, disinfects and deodorizes, and it provides 100% kill of pathogenic vegetative organisms, including MRSA, VRE and Avian Influenza A Virus (H9N2 and H1N1) with continuous residual activity for up to six months.

Compatible with plastics, wood, glass and metals, alcohol-free Sporicidin brand disinfectant is non-staining, non-abrasive and non-corrosive. Notably, the disinfectant carries a Category IV EPA toxicity rating the lowest toxicity rating given to antimicrobials.

"Milliken immediately came to mind when we decided to bring on a new manufacturing partner," said Jack McBride, Contec CEO. "Milliken is a trusted, key community player with the mass production, quality systems and speed-to-market capabilities needed to help us provide critical cleaning solutions to healthcare facilities without delay."

Sporicidin production at Milliken began on Tuesday, 12 May, after a record ramp-up of only four weeks. Typical similar partnerships require three to six months to arrange.

"Companies are adapting their core competencies to meet the global challenges brought on by COVID-19," said Halsey Cook, President and CEO of Milliken. "Partnering with Contec was a natural fit and gave Milliken the opportunity to quickly reconfigure our manufacturing capabilities and rapidly solve problems for our customers and communities."

Milliken quickly undertook an intensive technical process to manufacture Sporicidin brand disinfectant on behalf of Contec, Inc. Enabled by its research, development and manufacturing expertise, Milliken completed all EPA requirements and implemented training and protocols to safely produce a quality disinfectant.

Sporicidin brand disinfectant is available in ready-to-use 32 oz (0.65L) spray bottles, 1-gallon (3.8L) containers and pre-saturated wipes.

Researchers funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
have developed a membrane that can be attached to a regular N95 mask and replaced when needed. The filter has a smaller pore size than normal N95 masks, potentially blocking more virus particles.

N95 masks filter about 85% of particles smaller than 300 nm, according to published research. SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus that causes COVID-19) is in the size range of 65–125 nm, so some virus particles could slip through these coverings. Also, because of shortages, many health care workers have had to wear the same N95 mask repeatedly, even though they are intended for a single use. To help overcome these problems, Muhammad Mustafa Hussain and colleagues wanted to develop a membrane that more efficiently filters particles the size of SARS-CoV-2 and could be replaced on an N95 mask after every use.

To make the membrane, the researchers first developed a silicon-based, porous template using lithography and chemical etching. They placed the template over a polyimide film and used a process called reactive ion etching to make pores in the membrane, with sizes ranging from 5–55 nm. Then, they peeled off the membrane, which could be attached to an N95 mask. To ensure that the nanoporous membrane was breathable, the researchers measured the airflow rate through the pores. They found that for pores tinier than 60 nm (in other words, smaller than SARS-CoV-2), the pores needed to be placed a maximum of 330 nm from each other to achieve good breathability. The hydrophobic membrane also cleans itself because droplets slide off it, preventing the pores from getting clogged with viruses and other particles.

As return-to-work programs kick off across the United States, Black & Veatch announced the launch of COVOPERATE, an innovative new workforce management application powered by Field2Base that can help employers navigate the complex challenge of safely and productively restoring operations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of a comprehensive safety suite augmented by on-site, physical screening resources, COVOPERATE is a flexible, scalable cloud-based application that tracks and manages professionals’ critical health data. COVOPERATE relies on a series of screening questions and health declarations paired with in-person temperature checks and other safety protocols to generate an easily trackable “boarding pass” to assist in evaluating if professionals are clear to return to work or require additional verification.

“Black & Veatch worked closely with Field2Base to design an easy to use ‘boarding pass’ type of solution for businesses, schools and commercial groups looking to minimize risk in their return to work programs,” said John Chevrette, president of Black & Veatch Management Consulting. “By collecting specific health data determined by each organization, COVOPERATE quickly evaluates an individual’s return to work status and shares it with on-site resources that can determine appropriate site access.”

By digitizing information and securely managing the data in a secure, HIPAA-compliant and audited platform hosted by Field2Base, COVOPERATE helps organizations ranging from commercial and industrial businesses to education, government and financial organization settings to assist in establishing enhanced safety site access programs. In addition, the data provided by COVOPERATE can also assist in management of complex, daily labor workflows by providing location validation and a real-time view into available staffing resources.

Based in North Carolina, Field2Base is a software company that specializes in developing field service automation and mobile form solutions. The company will manage the collection and processing of professionals’ health data and provide technical support for COVOPERATE at the organization level.

The application is currently in market testing with select large enterprise companies across the U.S. and will support access management for millions of workers. Black & Veatch will also begin to use COVOPERATE to help foster the long-term safe return of its professionals.

“We are thrilled to work with Black & Veatch and to rely on their engineering leadership and combine our mobile technology expertise to design COVOPERATE,” said Ed White, CEO and Chairman, Field2Base. “Helping organizations get back to work safely and productively will be critical as we continue to navigate the global impacts of COVID-19.”

A global leader in critical infrastructure services, Black & Veatch has introduced several solutions that support business activities and return-to-work efforts impacted by COVID-19, including BV Safe Contact, a cloud-hosted geospatial tracking tool designed to help keep field services and construction crews working on critical infrastructure projects safe, and the Rapid Modular Health System (RaMHS), which provides testing and screening capabilities outside of traditional healthcare or business security settings.

Short-waved UVC Irradiation is Highly Effective for Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 Viruses

The results showed coronavirus can be killed reliably within seconds using Hönle UV units. An inactivation rate of 99.99% (log4) was confirmed in the laboratory.

The tests were carried out applying different UV technologies and showed a clear result: Whether the disinfection units were equipped with UVC discharge lamps or UV-LED, inactivation rate and inactivation time remained constant and reproducible.

The results concluded that the risk of infection with COVID-19 is reliably and efficiently minimized by disinfecting ambient air and surfaces with UVC irradiation. Hönle used these results for their latest product series STERICUBE and STERIAIR, consisting of UVC cabinets, UVC chambers and UVC hand lamps for germ inactivation.

Antimicrobial Door Handle Cover Available from Teknomek

Hygienic furniture specialist Teknomek has launched easy fit antimicrobial door handle covers to help businesses manage transference risks throughout a pharma facility. The product helps prevent cross-contamination from one user to the next in under 30 seconds.

Sue Springett, Commercial Manager at Teknomek, said: "Our sanitizing door handles that release viricidal gel have unsurprisingly been in great demand over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it makes sense to install these at high risk areas such as the entrance to a cleanroom or washrooms, the need for antimicrobial management extends beyond these key areas."

"The new antimicrobial door handle covers are a quick fit solution adding an additional layer of protection and reassurance to staff," Springett added. "Most importantly, they help reinforce the importance of hygiene culture from the moment a person arrives at the building, at a time when this has never been more important."

The hygienic handle covers feature a silver ion antibacterial coating that kills 99.9% of bacteria, including e-coli, salmonella, H1N1 and MRSA.

No tools or experience are required to install the door hand covers, which can be fitted in under a minute.

The company, together with Development Bank of Wales, took a minority holding in Pinpoint Scientific last September.

“Pinpoint is developing an exciting range of viable air monitors for the pharmaceutical industry. The ImpactAir range of air monitors will directly address the need for continuous monitoring within Grade A environments as per the revised Annex 1,” said Managing Director Andy Whittard.

For the Cherwell boss, growing demands around environmental monitoring within pharma will continue in 2020. “We see the ImpactAir product, alongside our range of prepared media, as being a key offering.

Redditch Medical has launched its hand hygiene range in a time of greatest need. As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to effect daily life with an imminent release from "lock down" expected and an expected increase in PPE and Infection Prevention required Reddtich Medical is prepared to support.

With two formulations in the range a hand rub (InSpec HR) and a hand gel (InSpec HG). The hand rub is manufactured according to the World Health Organization formula and is available in a convenient personal spray bottle. The Hand Gel is specially formulated to provide fully viricidal efficacy and excellent skin compatibility with provitamin B5, aloe vera and glycerol designed to protect the skin during use.

With the development of this new range Redditch Medical has added further investment into the InSpec brand with new premises and filling lines.

Sweden's controversial decision not to impose a strict lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic led to too many deaths, the man behind the policy, Anders Tegnell, has acknowledged.

Sweden has seen a far higher mortality rate than its nearest neighbors and its nationals are being barred from crossing their borders.

Sweden has counted 4,542 deaths and 40,803 infections in a population of 10 million, while Denmark, Norway and Finland have imposed lockdowns and seen far lower rates.

Denmark has seen 580 deaths; Norway has had 237 deaths and Finland 321. Sweden reported a further 74 deaths on Wednesday.

More than 230,000 health workers around the world have contracted the novel coronavirus since the start of the global pandemic, while over 600 nurses have died from it, according to a new analysis by the International Council of Nurses.

The figures show that an average of 7% of all COVID-19 cases worldwide are among health care workers.

The International Council of Nurses, which represents more than 130 national nursing associations with 20 million members worldwide, said the analysis is based on data from its associations, official figures and media reports from a limited number of countries," since "there is no systemic and standardized record" of the global number of nurses and health care workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 or succumbed to the disease.

Fibre Extrusion Technology Says There May Be Better Answers Than Polypropylene for Meltblowns

Fibre Extrusion Technology (FET), a UK-based specialist in process solutions and equipment for the manmade yarns and fiber extrusion industry, has received unprecedented inquiries about its nonwoven meltblowing systems since the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

“We’re currently running trials, preparing samples and defining specifications for companies in Germany and Italy, as well as the UK, and we could already have sold the lab line we have here many times over,” said Managing Director Richard Slack. “It’s primarily designed for R&D and pilot scale applications, but trials have proven it to be suitable for the low volume production of critical meltblown face mask materials. Some of the customers to whom we’ve supplied similar lines have already pivoted their production to this, which has generated further interest.

“We feel, however, that we are ideally placed to offer services to nonwoven companies who may be exploring alternatives to polypropylene in meltblown, due to our experience in working with such a wide range of fiber types.”

FET’s meltblown system was originally developed for companies looking to process high melt viscosity medical grade resorbable polymers such as polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxl btyrate (PGH), mainly for use in implantable products and other medical devices.

The key applications for these fibers are in hernia repair patches, staple reinforcement buttresses, artificial skin, adhesion barriers periodontal and ringival repair materials and those for tendon and ligament repair.

“Our meltblowing system provides medical companies and others dealing in such fibers with a simpler processing route than other techniques such as needle punching and a wide range of structural and mechanical properties is obtainable from batch production,” Slack said. “There are also numerous options for post-processing of the webs, by calendaring, point bonding or lamination.”

Performance polymers such as TPU polyurethanes and TPE thermoplastic elastomers are also processed by a number of leading sportswear companies on FET meltblown systems, while engineering polymers such as ABS and PEEK, as well as polycarbonate and halogenated polymers, are other possible raw materials.

It is in the area of sustainable resins, however, that FET believes much more can be achieved.

Meltblown polypropylene nonwovens are the critical component of the face masks needed for Covid-19 frontline workers and their scarcity on the open market has in part been the reason for the reported shortages around the world.

An estimated 40 million face masks and other disposable nonwoven-based PPE items are currently estimated to be being consumed each day, amounting to a daily 15,000-ton mountain of waste — much of which must be incinerated.

“We’ve done a lot of work with sustainable polyamides and polyesters, as well as with PHAs and a range of of PLAs,” Slack says. “In the longer term, there has to be a more sustainable option than polypropylene in these products and the opportunity to explore potential alternatives — drawing on the know-how from the extensive body of tests and trials we’ve carried out in the past, as well as the machines run commercially by our customers — is something I believe makes us pretty unique in the services we can offer nonwovens manufacturers.

Conventional meltblown and spunbonded systems are usually designed for high capacity systems and are not suitable for product development, he adds.

“They consume high quantities of materials and as a consequence are not suitable for development work with high value materials or for niche applications. They also rely on specially formulated low viscosity polymers which is a further limitation which does not apply to us.

In processing finer filaments, FET has achieved structures with average mean filament diameters of 1.68 microns and 58% of between 0.5 to 1.5 microns, in web thicknesses of 37 microns with bulk density of 98 mg/ml and porosity of around 92%.

FET’s system is designed for the processing of pure polymer with no need for processing aids or additives.

“A wide range of structural and mechanical properties are obtainable, with numerous options for post-processing of the web, such as by calendaring, point bonding or lamination,” Richard Slack concludes. “More effective and sustainable PPE solutions could well be achieved through further product development.”

A recent independent test by a mask supplier showed high efficiency for media made by NXT Nano. The company currently has some capacity available for manufacturing N95 rated face mask material. However they released this statement “Please understand this situation is fluid, and that as COVID-19 continues we expect this capacity to fill”.

Materials are nanofiber coated PET in ranges from 29 to 70 GSM depending on the needs of individual manufacturing lines.

In 2019 NXTNano, commenced installation of its third HYPR-Spun Nanofiber production line, bringing its annual capacity to above 60 million square meters of high efficiency air filtration media. Like NTXNano's existing production lines, the newest equipment will facilitate high volume nanofiber manufacturing up to a maximum roll width of 2.15 meters.

“As we continue to see very strong demand in nanofiber air filtration medias as well as our apparel, medical, and microfiltration business segments, we felt it was critical to keep capacity ahead of demand so our customers can continue to count on the fast order turns they have become accustomed to,” says director of sales Andrew McDowell.