A Coat Of Paint To Protect Against COVID-19?
The Interior painting season is upon us, and with COVID-19 still a threat, it’s not going to be as easy for customers to just let us into their home to paint this winter. Fortunately in every challenge lies an opportunity…
What if it were possible to protect your home or work environment from the dangers of the novel coronavirus, better known as COVID-19, by applying a coat of paint?
A paper published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.0c11425) states that this very thing may be possible.
The problem with the virus (one of many of course) is that it can live on normal surfaces for as long as a week, infecting everyone who comes into contact with that surface.
The issue typically comes when people touch the infected surface and then go on to touch their own face, without having washed their hands first.
People already do so much to protect themselves from getting sick from COVID-19.
They regularly clean their homes and make an effort to socially distance themselves and wear a mask when in public.
That said, everything that can help in the fight against this disease is a good thing.
According to the new journal article, what this new coating will do is directly attack the genetic material inside the virus itself that makes it so dangerous.
What this means is that just by the coating being on a wall, for example, if somehow that wall were exposed to the virus it would not be able to stay alive on it.
This coating, developed by scientists at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is said to be able to inactivate the virus in an hour.
Tests done on walls with this coating were done and it was shown that the virus load had been reduced by 99.99% as compared to a wall that did not have the coating.
The coating contains a chemical compound called cuprous oxide, which is typically used for things like keeping barnacles from sticking to the side of a ship’s hull.
Tests on the coating showed that even when they tried to scrape it, it still stood up against the virus.
This is a really good thing if you consider the normal wear and tear that interior surfaces get just by being used throughout the day.
Separately, researchers at the University College London are testing another sort of paint with the hopes that it too can fight against COVID-19.
The paint is called Airlite and the way that it works is by cleaning the air of impurities, including pollutants, bacteria, and certain viruses.
The hope is that with further tests, Airlite (https://www.airlite.com/) will be shown to also be effective against COVID-19.
Reply and let me know what your thoughts or plans are for this winter season.