Der Tagesspiegel: Essence of a pandemic - We have a hygiene problem
Berlin (ots) - Overloaded healthcare systems, millions of sick people, countless lost jobs and every second company's existence threatened. What do we have to learn for the future?
"The fact that we actually have a hygiene problem is clear from the fact alone that measures such as mandatory masks, contact bans and lockdowns have led to falling incidence figures. However, it is difficult to interrupt the central transmission difficult to interrupt,"
says Prof. Dr. med Bulitta (Head of the Hygiene and Medical Technology Group, Ostbayerische technische Hochschule Amberg Weiden). Together with leading scientists, oji Raumluftforschung and Henkel Laboratories, he has determined how the risk of infection in indoor areas can be eliminated in the future. Their test series did not focus exclusively on controlling coronaviruses.
Bacteria or other pathogens are part of our nature, will always reappear, mutate and will spread ever more rapidly as a result of globalization. Thus, society's mission is to prevent the rapid, global spread of pathogens.
A future without fear
After the emergence of new pathogens, experience shows that we have a time window of nine months until we can develop an effective vaccine, but even this does not provide 100% protection against infection, according to SPD member of parliament Karl Lauterbach. So how do we respond to pandemics in the future?
According to Dr. Dr. Boecker (medical doctor and physico-chemist) there are two possibilities: Either strict lockdowns again until we have brought the incidence of infection under control via vaccinations, or we install preventive and continuously operating technologies for indoor air and surface hygiene that nip exponential spread in the bud, so to speak. The former, i.e. a further lockdown, is no longer sustainable for the global economy. According to German business associations, it will take decades before we have fully recovered from the consequences of this pandemic.
Prevention as a social mission
"Air filtration systems with high filter quality or the use of active substances in indoor air that simultaneously clean surfaces are a very useful contribution as a stationary unit,"
says Dr. Bone-Winkel, head of oji indoor air research. This is the first time that we have succeeded in developing a system for the "main distribution points" of diseases. Wherever large masses of people come together and the air is distributed throughout the building via ventilation or air-conditioning systems, it is essential to develop a system for the the entire building, the risk of infection is difficult to estimate or impossible to control. This applies, for example, to concert halls, shopping malls, exhibition halls, or local, long-distance and air traffic. These are buildings with an air volume of 100,000 cubic meters and more.
The developed system
"The system can be connected to all standard indoor air systems. Equipped with sensors, the system measures the quality of the room air and adjusts it to create a healthy indoor climate. It creates a protective atmosphere in which infection can be ruled out. This has been investigated in dozens of comprehensive and detailed laboratory tests.
We are thus creating a new standard for permanently clean and safe air and hygienic surfaces",
explains Dr. Bone-Winkel of oji room air research further.
The world's first system of this kind will already be deployed in October 2021, i.e. before the start of the coming flu season, and further installations are planned, particularly in live entertainment arenas. This is intended to create standards for our air for the first time that are intelligently and preventively adapted to future pathogens.