Coronavirus Technology Solutions
May 19, 2020
Markets Shaped by Coronavirus
Technology and Pharmaceutical
Solutions
Hawk Environmental Offers Viral
Test Kits for High Traffic Areas
in Buildings
Aanika Biosciences has What
Could be an Inexpensive Surface
Testing Approach
Businesses can do Their Own
Surface Testing
Modern Healthcare Corporation
has N-80 Mask
Airplanes are Relatively Safe
with the Following Guidelines
Lots of Masks and Air Purifiers
at Morrison Dental
Auto Manufacturers Add More Air
Purification Capability
COVID Outbreak at German
Slaughterhouse
______________________________________________________________________________
Markets Shaped by Coronavirus
Technology and Pharmaceutical
Solutions
All the air, water, energy and
cleanroom markets for which
McIlvaine forecasts future
revenues will be greatly
affected
by the Coronavirus. There
are two specific
solutions which will mitigate
the impact and allow return to a
new normal.
One is Coronavirus
Technology Solutions.
This service with Daily Alerts
is showing a path for safe
resumption of near normal
activities with filtered air,
masks, monitoring,
decontamination
and other PPE.
Coronavirus Pharmaceutical
Solutions
analyzes the vaccines,
therapies, reagents, and test
kits which will also have major
impact on the return to near
normal. The first step is to
find products
which will solve the
problem but an equally big
challenge is to produce the
hundreds of millions of doses
which would be necessary.
McIlvaine has been publishing
Cleanroom Projects for many
years. This service will help
analyze the production
quantities of new vaccines and
therapies. It will also forecast
the timing for effective use.
The initial research and trials
being carried on by hundreds of
pharmaceutical companies need to
be analyzed and determinations
made about the future success of
these products. Detailed
tracking of each major product
and the company or companies
producing it is provided.
Click here
for a sample profile of
Gilead and remdesivir.
Going forward all the McIlvaine
market reports will rely on
these two analyses to help
predict future markets. Despite
the claims that we can resume
normal routines even if millions
die from COVID McIlvaine
believes that this will not be
the case. So near normal
activity will return only with
some combination of the two
solutions.
Example: McIlvaine is analyzing
the impact on media suppliers
such as Berry Global. The
company has over $12 billion in
global sales with home, health
and personal care accounting for
30% of the total. Consumer
packaging and other businesses
are hurt by the pandemic.
Under a base case where the
situation continues to slowly
improve the relative magnitude
on normal business could be a
negative 14 whereas growth
opportunities would be a
positive 10.
Air filtration media will
be needed to capture the virus.
On the other hand the Merv 8
market may be reduced by the
selection of more efficient
media. There will be reduced
purchases in some of the air
filter segments associated with
industrial activity. There will
be minor positive impact on
liquid filtration media. A large
number of vaccine and therapy
plants will be built. They will
use cartridges. But this revenue
will be offset by slowdown in
food, chemical, and energy which
are major cartridge consumers.
Reemay cartridges are
also used in the pool and spa
markets which are being
negatively impacted.
Berry is expanding mask media
production in France, Germany,
and the U.S. A big initiative is
a new mask for the general
population.
The newly introduced Synergex
ONE provides a multilayer
nonwoven composite product in a
single sheet, as an alternative
to traditional face mask layer
structures. This new material
will be manufactured in Europe
and serve the European market
and is available immediately.
the near term potential is
modest but longer term this
product could be a leading
revenue generator for the
company.
If three billion people
average mask purchases of $10/yr
the market would be
60 billon or five times
greater than the present sales
of Berry.
More gown media will also be
sold. There will be a greater
positive than negative effect on
wipes. Consumer packaging and
other business will be
negatively impacted by an amount
which will offset any gains from
coronavirus related activities.
The Berry analysis is shown at
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/images/berry_2020-05-19.pdf
For all the companies supplying
air, water, cleanroom, and
energy products the future
depends on the answer to few
questions. To what extent does
coronavirus travel like
cigarette smoke long distances
and retain viability over time?
When will successful
vaccines and therapies be
available?
Will outbreaks reoccur
each year? Will people take
advantage of the technology
solutions? Every market forecast
needs to make assumptions about
the answers to these questions.
Details on the reports are
available at
www.mcilvainecompany.com
Hawk Environmental Offers Viral
Test Kits for High Traffic Areas
in Buildings
Despite the uncertainty of
viral-RNA tests, some companies
are already offering services
for high-traffic areas within
buildings. “Some businesses may
have risk-management teams or
insurance companies that will
require them to do testing,”
says Dan Ventura, owner of Hawk
Environmental Services in
Seattle, which tests for a
variety of hazards from mold to
bacteria to asbestos and has
recently added coronavirus to
the list. Ventura says that if
several employees fall ill,
managers may want to thoroughly
clean the facility and then use
the tests to prove there is no
detectable viral RNA. Others may
ramp up their cleaning
procedures upon finding RNA
where it hasn’t been before. The
testing, he adds, “will allow
these buildings to stay open,
stay running, and provide a
second level of assurance.”
But the tests can take several
days to process, which may make
the results moot. To shorten the
wait time, Ventura offers
expedited testing — at a price.
Hawk will ship swabbing kits to
customers, which then go to a
third-party lab. (Ventura
declined to name the lab, citing
worry that it would be inundated
by requests and suffer
processing bottlenecks.) The
cost ranges from $365 per swab
with a four-day turnaround time
to $605 per swab for a 24-hour
turnaround — prices that Ventura
says are “affordable when looked
at through the lens of liability
of the operation.”
How many swabs are needed is
unclear, and there are no clear
guidelines? Ventura says he
leaves it to businesses to
decide how many to use and the
size of the sampling areas.
One swab per ft2 has been
a standard applied in some non
COVID settings.
Aanika Biosciences
has What Could be an Inexpensive
Surface Testing Approach
Aanika Biosciences in Brooklyn
is developing a way for
companies to trace and
authenticate their supply chains
by tagging products with a
harmless microbe, which can
serve as a biological barcode.
To detect the microbial DNA,
Aanika uses chemical methods and
equipment that can also be used
to detect coronavirus RNA, says
biologist Ellen Jorgensen, the
company’s chief scientific
officer.
In March, Jorgensen called New
York City officials to offer
help with testing coronavirus in
buildings. The company’s pricing
isn’t set yet, but Jorgensen
also offered to do free testing
for New York schools.
Businesses can do Their Own
Surface Testing
ChaiBio, a biotech company in
Santa Clara, California is
selling test equipment directly
to businesses, which would
eliminate long waits for test
results. Traditional PCR
machines used in research labs
can cost $200,000, but ChaiBio
sells versions for less than
$10,000. Originally developed
for the food industry, the
machines are used by brewers to
detect bacteria that spoil beer.
When Covid-19 arrived, ChaiBio
developed a process to test for
the new coronavirus. A starter
pack for the virus costs $8,500
and includes the machine, swabs,
and other testing materials.
Using the ChaiBio machine
doesn’t require a degree in
biology and takes less than an
hour, says CEO and cofounder
Josh Perfetto. Unlike
traditional PCR machines, which
look for the virus’s entire
sequence of RNA, ChaiBio’s looks
for the genetic pieces specific
only to the organism of
interest, which cuts time,
complexity, and cost. “You put
your sample in the device and it
gives you the result on the
computer screen,” he says.
Modern Healthcare Corporation
has N-80 Mask
Motex, manufactures disposable
medical surgical wound dressings
and medical tapes as well as the
varied face masks in Taiwan. It
has
plants located in
Thailand, Shanghai and Taiwan.
They
have the certificates of
ISO, CE, GMP. and some items
with US FDA510K approved. The
company was established in 1978
and has less than 100 employees.
It offers N80 masks. This
designation is being used by
those who are offering a mask
for the general population which
is higher efficiency than most
masks being worn by the public
but would be 80% efficient on
0.3 micron particles in contrast
to the 95%
N95.
The original
name of the
company was
Huaxin Medical
Materials. It
has won awards
for a
new
airtight
protective mask.
The overall
safety and
comfort of flat
masks have
greatly
improved. Chairman
Zheng said that
the patented
technology has
the advantages
of integrated
design, fully
automated
production, cost
competitiveness,
etc., and can be
applied to
various flat
masks on the
market such as:
dustproof
(protective)
masks, activated
carbon masks,
surgical bandage
masks ... I
believe that we
can recreate the
blue ocean
business
opportunities in
the mask market
and benefit the
consumers.
Masks are Part
of a Combined
Program to
Reduce the Odds
to Near Zero
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has
claimed that if everyone wore
face masks on planes and public
transport, it would ''eliminate
the risk of spreading Covid-19
by about 98.5%''.
O'Leary, who wants to restart
flights in July, was speaking on
BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He called the government's plan
to quarantine travelers for 14
days "ineffectual" and
"unmanageable".
O'Leary said the 98.5% figure
came from a study by the Mater
Hospital in Dublin.
This is over
simplified
because the
efficiency of
each mask is not
specified. But
if both are
wearing N95
masks the
probability
should be
reduced to
fractions of a
percent.
This could be
reduced to close
to 0 with
partitioning.
There is already
an air nozzle
above each
passenger.
If this
is directed
downward you
have the ideal
cleanroom
conditions of
downward laminar
flow of HEPA
filtered air. The avoidance of COVID-19 is a gamble but one where each safety measure keeps increasing the odds. If there is screening of passengers and temperature checks at the gate. The odds of sitting next to a COVID carrier are small. This would be increased further if passengers were tested for COVID before they boarded.
Airplanes are Relatively Safe
with the Following Guidelines
Joseph Allen, assistant
professor of exposure assessment
science at Harvard, argues that
despite what you may think, “you
don’t get sick on airplanes more
than anywhere else.”
Allen says airlines have, for
many years, worked to keep
passengers safe from disease
while they travel.
“The ventilation system
requirements for airplanes meet
the levels recommended by the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention for use with COVID-19
patients in airborne infection
isolation rooms,” Allen said.
Allen also points to a
study about
a person suffering from
tuberculosis who took a flight
with 169 other passengers.
According to the study, the
median risk of infection to the
other passengers on the airplane
was between 1 in 10,000 to 1 in
1 million, Allen said.
Wearing a mask, as some airlines
now require, reduced the
incidence of infection another
tenfold, he said.
Allen wrote that airplanes take
care to keep the environment
within the plane safe by
exchanging the air in the cabin
10 to 12 times an hour.
“To get technical, airplanes
deliver 10 to 12 air changes per
hour. In a hospital isolation
room, the minimum target is six
air changes per hour for
existing facilities and 12 air
changes per hour for new.”
“Airplanes also use the same air
filter — a HEPA filter
— recommended by the CDC for
isolation rooms with
recirculated air. Such filters
capture 99.97% of airborne
particles.”
Allen wrote that there are
several things that travelers,
airports and airlines can do to
make the trip a safer one in
terms of avoiding potential
infection by the novel
coronavirus.
Here is what Allen suggests
travelers do:
·
Wear a mask.
·
Wash your hands frequently.
·
Maintain social distancing as
much as you can.
Here is what Allen would like to
see airports do:
·
Require masks in the airport.
·
Make bathrooms touchless.
·
Increase ventilation rates.
·
Consider deploying upper-room
germicidal UV fixtures in areas
with high-occupant density.
·
Institute temperature screening.
·
Deploy hand-sanitizer stations.
·
Require passengers stay in a
designated area once they
check-in and come to the gate
they will depart from.
Allen has these tips for
airlines:
·
Ensure gate-based ventilation is
operating during boarding and
disembarkation.
·
Have a plan for loading the
airplane.
·
Require masks.
·
Provide meals and bottled water
during boarding and discontinue
in-flight meal and drink
service.
Lots of Masks and Air Purifiers
at Morrison Dental
Dr. Robert Morrison, CEO and
chief clinical officer
of Morrison Dental Group, a
family run dental practice with
locations throughout Virginia
including Williamsburg, Newport
News and Hampton, said they have
been open during the pandemic
and treating emergency patients.
“The idea was to keep them out
of emergency rooms,” he said,
adding they were treating some
patients from Olde Towne clinic,
urgent care and emergency rooms.
“Forty percent of the patients
were not our patients.”
While the practice has since
resumed normal operations
providing preventative care such
as regular cleanings, they are
still seeing a significant
number of patients from other
practices needing emergency
care, Morrison said.
Staff members have their
temperature checked and are
screened daily, Morrison said.
Staff must wear a mask at all
the time, regardless of whether
or not they are in the treatment
room with a patient and are
required to use PPE, eye
protections and gloves during
patient appointments.
Other ways the practice has
worked to reduce the amount of
aerosol in the room is
installing air purifiers
throughout the building in
treatment rooms, offices and
lobby areas at each location.
In addition to filtering the
air, the new purifiers have HEPA
filters and use UV light to
filter pathogens, too.
The dental practice has also
started telehealth or
teledentistry, having video
visits with their patients.
“We do that with a lot of
emergency patients [to] assess
their condition,” he said. “We
do a lot of our follow up
appointments that way.”
Auto Manufacturers Add More Air
Purification Capability
Geely launched vehicles with
intelligent air purification
systems in February 2020. The
OEM invested USD 53 million to
develop healthy, intelligent
vehicles. All the upcoming 2020
Geely vehicles will have these
systems.
SAIC Motor announced new UV
based sterilization systems for
its upcoming vehicles. Yanfeng,
a leading interior manufacturer
unveiled Wellness Pod, a UV air
sanitization device specially
targeted for ride sharing
services. OEMs and air
purification systems
manufacturers are increasingly
adopting measures to offer cabin
sterilization features to
protect occupants from viruses
and other gaseous particles &
pollutants. These vehicles use
HVAC systems with multi-layer
cabin filters.
The cabin filters are capable of
preventing pollen and allergens
from entering the cabin. These
vehicles have mask level air
filtration efficiency. Post
pandemic, these features will be
beneficial for people with
allergies to breathe easily
inside the cabin
COVID Outbreak at German
Slaughterhouse
A large coronavirus outbreak was
reported at a German
slaughterhouse on Monday. In the
last two weeks, meat-processing
plants have been the site
of three other major outbreaks.
At least 92 workers at a
slaughterhouse in Dissen in
Lower Saxony have tested
positive, the city of Osnabrück
announced late on Sunday. Those
infected and members of their
households have been placed in
quarantine and production has
been stopped.
The German government's "Coronavirus
Cabinet" was set to discuss
changes to workplace safety
regulations, with a particular
eye on slaughterhouses. Concerns
have been raised about the
working and living conditions of
slaughterhouse workers, where
many of the employees are
eastern European temporary
workers brought into feed
Germany's appetite for cheap
meat. |