Two Existing Technologies Could Fight Covid Now
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Many are surprised to learn that there are low-cost and effective approaches already in widespread use outside the U.S. that can provide focused protection for the vulnerable and prevent transmission of viruses in indoor settings. The installation of a simple technology that deactivates germs could make public spaces safer against viruses and bacteria for decades. Also, while new vaccines are making the headlines, a nearly century-old vaccine that costs pennies per dose and is already used by hundreds of millions of people world-wide can help reduce severe outcomes from respiratory infections.
The former tool is upper-room UVC germicidal lighting. These fixtures look like glorified bug-zappers, but the bugs they zap are viruses and bacteria, not insects. The technology has been around since 1937, when it was first used against a measles outbreak—an airborne virus more contagious than Covid-19—in a Philadelphia school. Studies show that when optimally used in concert with good ventilation systems, UVC germicidal lighting provides the same effect as completely replacing the air in a room more than 10 times an hour. This reduces transmission and is a safe, effective layer of protection against threatening airborne diseases in crowded indoor settings.
The devices are manufactured in America and have been supplied to U.S.-funded programs around the world through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Outfitting indoor public spaces with these devices would cost considerably less than the trillions already spent by the federal government to mitigate the economic impact of this crisis. Our data from implementation of this approach in Oklahoma City indicate that installing these bug zappers in a typical building costs less than $6 a square foot. Maintenance and upkeep are cheap and simple. From Utica College in New York to the Salvation Army of Central Oklahoma, and from Los Angeles International Airport to the Cambridge Friends School in Massachusetts, these lights are already on and providing a layer of important protection.
The second tool is a vaccine that hundreds of millions of people have taken for years with almost no side effects—the antituberculosis vaccine BCG. It has been used for almost a century to protect the most vulnerable against tuberculosis and can be almost immediately produced in large quantities at low cost. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published last month in the journal Cell showed that BCG vaccination triggers a general immune response that decreases viral respiratory tract infections by 79% among the elderly.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-existing-technologies-could-fight-covid-now-11605567973 (subscription)
Dr. Keshavjee is director of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Global Health Delivery. Mr. Nicholson is a researcher at Duke University and executive director of Advance Access & Delivery, a nonprofit.
