New cleaning strategies used by airlines to disinfect aircraft opposing the new coronavirus are effective, according to a report recently published through the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Arizona and Boeing.
The Seattle-based airline manufacturer carried out the verification as part of its Confident Travel Initiative, a program designed to “minimize the health hazards associated with air travel. “
This study tested the cleaning strategies used in flights to validate whether these strategies were effective in getting rid of the virus not only in the cockpit, but also in the cockpit and shipping compartments. The concept to ensure that cleaning protocols provide a virus-free virus. at the time of boarding, eliminating a possible source of transmission of the virus between flights.
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Frequent aircraft cleaning is just one facet of the layered protection technique airlines have taken to combat coronavirus transmission. Other precautions to prevent propagation come with the advent of non-contact technology, the use of the aircraft’s HEPA air filtration formula to remove the air virus, urging passengers to stay in their homes when they have health problems and encouraging the use of masks on board.
Overlapping these precautions gives the virus more opportunities and prevents its spread.
“It is (COVID-19) a risk to the protection of passengers in the air transport system, so we protect ourselves from risks through layered protections, whether cybersecurity, physical security or, in this case, physical security,” Boeing said. Tom Sanderson said Director of Product Marketing.
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In the study, announced as the first of its kind, Scientists at the University of Arizona placed a live substitute virus, the MS2 virus, on touch problems such as trays and seat backrests around a Boeing 737 at Boeing Field in Seattle. It is commonly used in clinical studies because it is innocent to humans, however, Boeing claimed that this is the first time it has used it on a plane.
Charles Gerba, a professor and microbiologist at the University of Arizona, said scientists chose to use the MS2 virus for two main reasons: humans can’t get it and it’s stronger than coronavirus, meaning that if cleansing strategies can simply kill MS2, the same strategies would also have coronavirus.
“It’s literally exciting to paint on this task because we have to put a live virus on a plane and then prove that we can inactivate and kill that virus,” Gerba said.
One of the benefits of testing a live virus on a plane in the field, Gerba said, is that scientists can practice how those cleaning strategies will be applied to surfaces.
Scientists implemented MS2 virus droplets on elevated surfaces such as seat backrests, trays, armrests, windows, raised garage compartments, faucets, lids, seating bridges, and touch problems in the kitchen.
After applying the virus, which is innocent to humans, came a Boeing cleaning team that is not aware of the check and implemented the cleaning strategies of airlines in use lately, adding chemical disinfectants, electrostatic aerosols, antimicrobial coatings and ultraviolet rods.
Scientists then cleaned 230 locations around the plane, packed their swabs in a icebox, and transported them overnight to the University of Arizona lab for analysis.
In the end, scientists found that all cleaning strategies were effective in eliminating 99. 9% of the MS2 virus.
Scientists also took portions of the aircraft and, in the lab, implemented the new coronavirus on those surfaces and performed more tests to ensure that the MS2 virus is stronger than COVID-19 on those surfaces to give confidence in the effects of the test that the cleaning processes that kill MS2 also kill COVID-19.
“Knowledge verifies a lot what we learned on the plane here in the lab,” Gerba said.
Boeing chose to work with the University of Arizona because of its reputation as a box leader and the university’s laboratory capabilities.
“We did our homework to verify and locate primary educational establishments that, to our knowledge, were very knowledgeable about the virus, but also had laboratory functions and about the COVID-19 virus and other substitute viruses,” said Bryan Moran of Boeing. Confident Travel Initiative Clean Program Manager “This took us to the University of Arizona. I kept coming back. “
Although the study was presented to verify cleaning strategies to prevent coronavirus transmission across aircraft surfaces, it may have broader implications for protecting public health.
“It’s to recognize that we’re not only talking about SARS-CoV-2, but also about other viruses and microorganisms,” Gerba said.
Boeing and the University of Arizona said they would continue to paint in combination with other new technologies similar to physical safety, such as the use of thermal disinfection on aircraft.
You can attach with Melissa Yeager, a consumer reporter in the Republic of Arizona, by emailing melissa. yeager@azcentral. com. You can also stay with her on Twitter and Instagram.
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