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| Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus |
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| DrG:
--- Quote from: Nusa on May 26, 2020, 03:12:49 pm ---That quote was of the title, which itself was quoting a phrase. More complete quote, from the article: --- Quote ---Britain’s largest rail franchise is using disinfectant which it claims will kill coronavirus on surfaces for up to 30 days. --- End quote --- Keywords: "claims", and especially "up to" Which leaves a lot of wiggle room in real-world applications. If it fails after 2 days for whatever reason, they've still met their claim. In any case, the implication is that this is something fairly new. A health-care or food setting is going to have to wait for safety certifications before using it. --- End quote --- This claim "for up to 30 days", intrigued me. Intuitively, if it is going to do that it means it has to persist in the environment for 30 days and at an effective concentration. The GTA quote has been carried by a number of news outlets and, as many have noticed, there is precious little about what the product is. I found one article that added, "...that sticks to surfaces..." https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2020-05-26/new-viruscide-being-used-by-govia-thameslink-to-kill-coronavirus-on-surfaces/ . OK, I am starting to get an idea of how this could work - imagine some chewing gum under the the table that had a whole lot of virucide in it that that does not evaporate readily - is it something like that? Then I read this article https://www.fox13news.com/news/cleaning-product-continues-killing-novel-coronavirus-30-days-after-application-company-claims - not about the GTA but a US Port (Tampa, Florida..cruise ships, that kind of thing)..... and they showed a bottle of the stuff and the name is in thee article, along with the 30-day claim...mPale aha, getting closer. So I go to the product site http://www.mpactusa.com/ and I see this message: Due to significant increased web traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and residual web searches for our mPact™ Antimicrobial System, we have disabled our website temporarily. Please contact our headquarters for further inquiries regarding mPerial™ + mPale™ products. ok, ok, settle down, let's not assume quackery, if it is a commercial product in the US, we should be able to find it with (or without) certifications and with an associated MSDS. AT this point, I don't know where the 30-day claim appears or what evidence is cited if it does appear. Here is an MSDS for the product http://www.cms-clean.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/mPale-MSDS-Sheets.pdf Here is a labeling revision for the EPA (from last year) https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/083129-00001-20190312.pdf The label does clearly tout durability but I still don't see a written 30-day claim. Note, however, that in the video, someone is identified, by name, as being from the company. Adding the name to the search, I find another article https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2020/03/10/kill-coronavirus-with-microscopic-spikes-port-tampa-bay-says-yes/ where the mode of action is described: When mPact’s antimicrobial treatment, known as mPale, is applied to a disinfected surface and is allowed to dry, the company says, it leaves a thin film of molecules that have a unique spiked structure and a positive electrical charge. Those microscopic spikes do two things, mPact says. First, they bond with virtually any surface, though they are much too small to be seen or felt by human touch. Second, they attract bacteria, viruses, mold and fungi, which carry an opposite negative charge, into physical contact. On contact, the spikes punch through the cell walls of the microbes. “It punctures the membrane," Evans said. "It does not allow it to attach to a host. It does not allow it to propagate. It’s thinking about disinfection in a different way.” Then, I see it! “It’s absolutely safe,” Evans said. “It stays on for 30 days at the nano level. You can’t see it. You can’t feel it. It’s not something you can touch, but it continues to kill for 30 days. ... It’s a very effective disinfectant." ...and also... Three weeks ago, mPact sent its product to a German lab, which Evans said determined that it’s effective in eliminating 99.99 percent of the new coronavirus, known as COVID-19, which is short for “coronavirus disease 2019.” So, I guess some data does exists for the claim, but I am reserving comment until I can see those data (i.e., somebody who knows more than me evaluates those data). The article also notes that the product is not on the EPA list of "Coronavirus" killers, to which the response was: The company’s products are not on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of antimicrobial products for use against the new coronavirus, but Evans said the company was on a call Monday with the U.S. Commerce Department, which he said was interested in getting the company in touch with a coronavirus task force that includes EPA officials. OK, that exceeds my interest in the matter and I apologize if I got something wrong. |
| splin:
--- Quote from: DrG on May 26, 2020, 05:18:51 pm ---On contact, the spikes punch through the cell walls of the microbes. --- End quote --- I guess you wouldn't want to breathe in too much of it then. I guess it must be pretty safe given that apparently it was used at the temporary Nightingale hospital in London. There is at least one other contender however which can last even longer: [urlhttps://www.extremetech.com/extreme/309865-new-disinfectant-can-kill-coronavirus-on-surfaces-for-90-days][/url] --- Quote ---MAP-1 is a spray that coats and evaporates on surfaces, but it’s much more advanced than bleach or alcohol. The spray carries millions of polymer nanocapsules that adhere to surfaces and remain there after the carrier liquid has dried. These non-toxic capsules contain a disinfectant that remains in suspension until touched. The heat from a hand or moisture activates the capsules, releasing disinfectant onto the surface. --- End quote --- They claim you'll be able buy it yourself soon; I wonder how long it takes to get approval for such novel new anti-bacterial/virus products and how rigorous the process is? Anything dangerous to bacteria and virus particles probably isn't good for human cells either. --- Quote ---Germagic will begin selling MAP-1 directly to consumers in 50-200ml bottles soon. The company says those will cost between $9 and $32. --- End quote --- |
| Buriedcode:
--- Quote from: DrG on May 26, 2020, 05:18:51 pm --- OK, that exceeds my interest in the matter and I apologize if I got something wrong. --- End quote --- It's good that someone has the stamina to do this - most can't be bothered to follow it that far (including myself for most things). It is the reason marketing claims for products (especially in health) often run-away unchecked, because few can really go down the rabbithole, and those that do aren't always listened to. Your time and effort is appreciated :-+ |
| SilverSolder:
--- Quote from: DrG on May 26, 2020, 05:18:51 pm ---[...] So I go to the product site http://www.mpactusa.com/ and I see this message: Due to significant increased web traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and residual web searches for our mPact™ Antimicrobial System, we have disabled our website temporarily. Please contact our headquarters for further inquiries regarding mPerial™ + mPale™ products. [...] --- End quote --- You can run, but you can't hide... https://web.archive.org/web/20190812125109/http://www.mpactusa.com/ |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: thinkfat on May 25, 2020, 08:40:49 pm ---The act of coming together in communion is deeply ingrained in all religion. It's an act of reassurance, beneficial for the community on a social level. It is comforting for people especially in a crisis, to be with other people who share the same value system. Unfortunately, many don't realize that the threat is quite real and that our understanding of dangerous behavior is limited. It appears now that being in the same room and singing loudly transmits the virus quite efficiently, even if you keep a 1.5m distance and wash your hands. Astonishing is the rate of spread, though. The transmission chains are not completely understood yet (this will be excellent study material), but it appears that a single spreader sparked this whole cluster. --- End quote --- I can absolutely understand the desire to get together with a group of people one is accustomed to getting together with, I mean even as an introvert I'd like to go out to a pub and meet up with some friends for a beer. I don't see it as an essential activity though, I'm flexible and adaptable, I can find other ways to maintain social connections during a period of inconvenience that while much longer than I had anticipated, is still a temporary situation. I think the people who expect to see bodies stacking up in the streets are the same people who lap up conspiracy theories when they don't see recognizable remains of an airplane that has slammed directly into something at 400mph having seen pictures of other crashes that could be described as very hard landings. They don't understand math, and cannot make the connection between the numbers and the physical world. There are a bit under 20,000 cities/towns/villages in the USA, for 100,000 deaths that's an average of only 5 per town, even if a million die, I suspect that most of us will not personally know one of them closely. |
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