Are UV lights effective for virus disinfection?
With the active pandemic, we realized that without a working vaccine, we are ill equipped to fight the battle against new emerging viruses.
Because of the highly contagious property of SARS-NCOV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID-19), we are all looking for ways to disinfect our space, be it at home or in our workplace.
Though we have some ways to minimize our exposure (social distancing), we also have other ways to kill the virus on the surface of our homes or office. One example is chemical disinfectant.
Nevertheless, disinfectants have limitations: they cannot reach porous surfaces like fabrics nor nook and crannies that the user missed.
Fogging disinfectant chemicals is an other solution where the fog created by the mix of water and disinfectant can reach smaller places and allows fast disinfection of huge space. Unfortunately, it is possible for the fog to miss a virus because it is being spread in vast spaces.
Comes an other solution: disinfection through the use of Ultraviolet light or UV light.
What are ultraviolet UV lights?
Ultraviolet is a high energy light created by photons coming from a light source.
In its natural state, UV lights are produced by the sun. Whenever you walk under the sun, you can feel the warmth of it. What you actually feel, is the UV lights generated by the sun.
There are 3 types of UV lights:
UVA: the lowest energy for of UV, it’s mostly responsible for creating warmth and the tanning effect on your skin.
UVB: contains more energy and can be responsible for skin disease if exposed for a very long duration.
UVC: the highest energy category of UV light. Though produced by the sun, we are not affected by it because it is neutralized by the earth’s ozone layer before reaching us.
It is the UVC that has the benefits to kill micro-organism.
How does UV lights kill germs like viruses?
UV lights can penetrate the microbe’s cells and damage their DNA or RNA (for viruses) that contains their genetic codes. Damaged DNA will kill the germs while damaged RNA will not allow the virus to replicate itself.
There’s also evidence that ultraviolet can damage the envelope of a virus and would kill it or would refrain it from attaching itself to our internal cells and avoid an infection.
Who uses UV lights?
Though you might only have heard of it recently but ultraviolet is widely used. Since 1910, it is one of the way we treat water for human consumption.
Lately, some hospitals use devices that generates UV lights to disinfect their rooms, including their operating rooms.
What are the advantages of using UV lights to disinfect a space?
– UV lights don’t use any chemical so it’s environmental friendly.
– They are very easy to use. Just place the light in a room, leave the room and activate it wirelessly.
– They can reach all corners of a room.
– Anything that is in the line of sight of the light will be disinfected.
What are the disadvantages of UV lights?
– UV light is a good solution to disinfect a space but anything that was not in direct line of sight of the light won’t be disinfected.
– UV lights can be harmful to humans if not properly used. For instance, no one must be exposed to the light while in operation. Skin and eye disease might arise if someone has been exposed for some time.
Do’s and don’ts of UV lighting disinfection
Do’s
– DO clean and organize the room before the use of the light so its effect will be maximized.
– DO air the room for 20 minutes after use as an odor is being emanated due to the operations of the light bulb.
– DO handle the light carefully as it is fragile.
– DO use the remote to activate or disactivate the light.
Don’ts
– DO NOT stay in the room when the light is on.
– DO NOT look at the light when in operation
– DO NOT touch the light bulb
– DO NOT touch the light after its operation as it is very hot.
How Clean X can help you with UV lighting disinfection at home or in your establishment
Clean X is your deep cleaning experts. As such, disinfection is one of our core competence. We are using different techniques to clean and disinfect your place. We use steam, disinfectant, fogging and UV light for sanitizing and disinfecting a space.
We can provide our clients UV light disinfection. Also, you can rent our UVC disinfecting light for your own use. We also sell them.
As always, your safety is our priority. We will brief you and expect full compliance for a safe operation of our UV lights. You may visit our UV light operation guide here.
You may also be interested in our wide variety of cleaning services and our disinfection service.
Contact us now so we can help you make your space clean and disinfected.
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