Coronavirus Technology Solutions
May 7, 2020
Bassaire Provides Containment Rooms and Fan
Filter Units Avantor in Unique Position To
Supply Products to Mitigate the Coronavirus
Upscale KN95 Masks Available 10,000 COVID Cases in the
Meat Packing Industry FDA Withdraws Approval of
Sixty Chinese Mask Designs Poor
Ventilation Rather Than Momentary Contact is the
Bigger Threat
McIlvaine Provides a Coronavirus Solution Bridge
Between Suppliers and the Food Processing
Industry
_____________________________________________________________________________
Bassaire Provides Containment Rooms and Fan
Filter Units
Bassaire is the oldest cleanroom company in the
UK and has been awarded ISO9001 accreditation.
The company has considerable experience in
building pharmaceutical cleanrooms. It also
supplies fan filter units and will be a resource
for coronavirus mitigation.
http://www.bassaire.co.uk/
Avantor in Unique
Position To Supply Products to Mitigate the
Coronavirus
In 2018 Avantor acquired VWR for approximately
$6.4 billion cash, in a deal the companies said
would create a combined global provider
of consumables-focused solutions and services to
life sciences and advanced technologies
businesses, as well as education, government,
and research institutions.
The deal was designed to enable the combined
company to serve customers from research through
production by joining Avantor’s strengths in
cGMP manufacturing processes and significant
exposure to emerging markets with VWR’s focus on
providing product and service solutions to
laboratory and production customers in the
Americas and Europe.
VWR supplies masks, gowns, gloves and other
consumables.
It also supplies hardware from various
manufacturers such as clean benches from
Bassaire (covered in the previous article).
VWR® Advanced Protection Face Masks offer
excellent bacteria and particulate protection
and are available in multiple styles to provide
security and comfort throughout extended use.
Masks feature three-ply construction for
excellent particle and bacterial filtration
efficiency. Available in two styles, with
spandex ear loops or polypropylene ties
ultrasonically welded to maintain softness and
protect against particulates. An encased, 12cm
(43/4") malleable steel
nose-band creates a secure facial seal and
improves wearer comfort. Latex-free. Masks are
rigorously tested and manufactured in an ISO
Certified facility under stringent process
controls to ensure that each product meets
exacting quality standards. Products are
validated through independent lab testing.
Upscale KN95 Masks Available
We have previously written about Vogmask with
designer type high efficiency washable masks
selling for $33. Here is mask which sells for
around $5 from 22 Mask.
The mask complies
with national standard GB2626-2006.
Filtration efficiency is not less than 95%.
Effective Protection: 5 layers of protection,
disposable dust mask, activated carbon layer,
non-woven fabric layer, double electrostatic
absorption cotton and soft non-woven fabric
layer. Can filter tiny dust, pollen, particulate
matter and almost 95% of particles in the air.
https://22mask.com/masks-sale/kn95-mask-protection-efficency-95-anti-particle-mask-10-pcs/
10,000 COVID Cases
in the Meat Packing Industry
The meatpacking industry hit a grim milestone
this week when the number of coronavirus cases
tied to outbreaks at its plants passed 10,000,
according to USA TODAY and Midwest Center for
Investigative Reporting tracking.
At least 170 plants in 29 states have had one or
more workers test positive for the coronavirus.
Some of those workers also have infected others,
which is included in the count. At least 45
workers have died.
The outbreaks have prompted at least 40 meat
slaughtering and processing plant closures –
lasting anywhere from one day to several weeks –
since the start of the pandemic.
The shutdowns sparked meat shortages in some
parts of the country and triggered an executive
order by President Donald Trump to keep plants
open. But more than a week after Trump’s order,
closures have continued unabated, the media
outlets found.
Many companies said they have implemented social
distancing measures for workers, but Smithfield
Foods, one of the largest meatpacking companies
in the U.S., said doing so would be difficult.
"There are inescapable realities about our
industry," a statement on its website reads.
"Meat processing facilities, which are
characterized by labor-intensive assembly-line
style production, are not designed for social
distancing."
In this poultry processing plant it will be very
difficult to install partitions. These would
also be ineffective as explained in previous
alerts. The solution will be laminar downward
flow from HEPA filters about 8 feet above the
floor and air returns
which allow air to flow at floor level
behind the workstations.
The flow above the poultry workers would be
similar to the flow above the cashier and
customer at a checkout counter.
There would be a series of fan filter units on
the poultry processing line just as there would
be a series of fan filter units at checkout
counters.
FDA Withdraws
Approval of Sixty Chinese Mask Designs
Federal officials withdrew approval for more
than 60 manufacturers in China to export
N95-style masks to the U.S. after finding what
they said were a large number of low-quality
products from those companies.
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday
that it had cut the number of
mask makers in
China approved
to make N95-style masks for use in the U.S. to
14, from around 80. That reversed an April 3
decision to allow imports from manufacturers
whose masks hadn’t been tested by U.S.
authorities but had been reviewed by an
independent laboratory.
The shift illustrates the challenge to federal
officials who are trying to help meet huge
demand for masks from front-line workers
battling the coronavirus pandemic, while also
ensuring that medical gear works effectively.
“We’ve been using all of our authorities to
increase availability,” an FDA official said in
an interview. “There were a growing number of
respirators that failed to meet the expedited
performance standards.”
Poor Ventilation
Rather Than Momentary Contact is the Bigger
Threat
Scientists agree that the virus primarily
spreads between people
via droplets
that fly through the air when an infected person
coughs, sneezes, or speaks. Evidence also
increasingly shows that the risk of infection is
much higher in poorly ventilated, crowded
areas.
So while it can be jarring to have a runner
invade your 6-foot bubble, that fleeting moment
is
far less risky
than, say, working in an office with hundreds of
colleagues.
A recent study about an outbreak in a call
center in Seoul, South Korea, revealed that
almost
half the employees
on one floor
got infected. Nearly all of them sat in the same
section.
That makes the prospect of returning to offices
risky.
The more time you spend near someone who has
COVID-19, the higher the chance their infectious
droplets make it over to your face.
"I would not worry about walking by someone,"
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease
specialist at Johns Hopkins University, told
Slate.
"Even in a healthcare setting, contact is
defined by being near someone for a certain
amount of time. I would not worry about these
fleeting encounters."
Airflow matters, too. "In such a tightly
enclosed space without vigorous air movement for
a short period of time, I'm afraid you might be
exposed," Schaffner
previously told
Business Insider.
The same goes for hospitals.
A study
published last week in the journal Nature found
that virus particles were most highly
concentrated in the air within the 9-square-foot
toilet areas in patients' rooms in two hospitals
in Wuhan, China. These toilets were not
ventilated.
In ventilated ward areas, however, the amount of
virus was very low, a difference the authors
attributed to proper air circulation.
McIlvaine Provides a Coronavirus Solution Bridge
Between Suppliers and the Food Processing
Industry
Food processors around the world employ millions
of workers and generate trillions of dollars in
annual sales. The U.S meat packing industry has
reported over 10,000 coronavirus cases.
At least 170 plants in 29 states have had one or
more workers test positive for the coronavirus.
Social distancing is not an option as
shown by this poultry processing plant.
The initiative to install partitions and to
choose masks less efficient than N95 will not be
a solution.
Instead a whole suite of control
technologies with foot sanitizers, fan filter
units, laminar air flow, N95 masks and other PPE
will be the answer
McIlvaine is acting as a bridge between
suppliers and food processors to help them
understand their options and make the best
decisions for their plants. Daily Alerts,
interviews and webinars are part of the
McIlvaine program. The daily Alerts have details
on specific plant problems and solutions which
are cost effective.
They can be searched as per the example
for “pork” below
Search results for: pork
10 results found.
Sorted by relevance / Sort
by date
1. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... April
16, 2020 Ventilation and Filtration Important in
Buildings to Mitigate the Virus Impact Pork Processing
Plant in South Dakota Tries to Cope with 600
COVID Cases Meat Processing Plants ...
2. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... for
JBS, the American subsidiary of the world's
largest processor of fresh beef and pork.
This week there probably will be around 500,000
head processed at U.S ...
4. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... scanner
purchases. So far, the scanners have been
installed in four facilities; pork plants
in Iowa and Indiana and poultry plants in
Arkansas and Georgia. The company ...
5. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... Workers
Return to Wisconsin Meat Plant with 85 Positive
Cases 116 COVID Cases at Oklahoma Pork Plant
UNMC Provides a Draft Guidance on HVAC and Masks
for Meat Processors ____ ...
6. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... That
has a big implication for Hong Kong, which
imported all of its fresh pork and
94 per cent of its fresh beef from mainland
China. Billion Dollar Meat ...
7. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... which
are federally inspected. In March, the country
saw meat, beef and pork production
reach record highs, according to the US
Agriculture Department (USDA) . ...
8. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... improve
product quality. Studies have shown that cleaner
environments can result in extension of pork shelf
life by 12 days. Here are some of the mitigation
technologies which can ...
9. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... been
investigated and deemed unfounded. In Buchanan
County, Missouri, a Triumph Foods pork plant
in St. Joseph is the only cluster of virus
outbreaks, said Mary ...
10. McIlvaine
Coronavirus Market Ale
... .
These facilities represent more than 1 in 3 of
the nation's biggest beef, pork and
poultry processing plants. Rates of infection
around these plants are higher than those ...
html
McIlvaine assists suppliers reaching those with
needs as per the following example.
Over 500,000 people work in the animal
slaughtering and processing industry in the
U.S. 331,000 are in production. The top 100 U.S.
based meat processing companies employ more than
500,000 people but many are not in the plants.
Nevertheless office workers will need to be
protected as well.
Food processing is just one of the applications
covered in this worldwide service.
Coronavirus Technology Solutions
Bob McIlvaine can answer your questions at
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
or by cell at 847 226 2391 |