Cleveland, OH, October 19, 2020 — Across the world, companies – large and small – are grappling with the challenges of reopening safely amid a health pandemic that caused unimaginable devastation in a matter of eight months and continues to ravish our communities. Whether your business remained open, scaled back or temporarily closed during the height of COVID-19 pandemic, there’s one factor that cannot be denied: Our workplace as we’ve known it, has forever changed.
Companies that establish hard policies around protecting workers, first and foremost, to meet the needs of our workplace new normal will rebound, and those that don’t will risk closing their doors permanently.
Although we’re still learning about the spread and risks of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization advises the COVID-19 virus spreads in several ways: through droplets of saliva or nasal discharge when an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks and these droplets enter the mouths or noses of other persons; and people can be infected when they touch a surface with the live virus and then touch their eyes, nose and mouth.
Viruses can survive on surfaces far away from the living cells that they need to reproduce, which poses significant challenges for creating a workplace that protects workers throughout the day. For instance, according to recent studies by the New England Journal of Medicine, the Influenza virus remains infectious for up to 48 hours after landing on a nonporous surface, such as stainless steel, aluminum or plastic – think your computer keyboard or office phone. The cold, flu and coronavirus survive for much shorter times on porous surfaces such as cloth or clothing fabrics, paper or tissue – think bathroom toilet paper; with little infectious transmission beyond four hours.
Therefore, in addition to reimagining our physical work environments – requiring daily temperature monitoring, retrofitting offices and cubicles to allow the recommended six feet between individual workspaces, increasing ventilation and requiring PPE in the office – companies must impose standards to stop emerging viral pathogens by safeguarding surfaces throughout the office. Mitigating virus particles on a surface reduces the risks that someone touching it will become infected and spread the virus around the office and beyond.
Cleaning products that meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for killing bacteria and viruses on surfaces have been in very short supply since the start of the pandemic. That’s why there are a whole lot more applications being submitted to the EPA for Section 18 emergency clearance by disinfectant developers to help the nation prepare workplaces to welcome back employees.
We understand the challenges of safeguarding the workplace and are prepared to meet those challenges. Our research and development team has developed a new surface cleaning platform that has been independently verified to combat both bacterial and viral pathogens, and we’re seeking approval by the (EPA) to launch the odorless and colorless antimicrobial cleaning solution to help fight the current global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and combat bacterial growth on surfaces for an extended period of time.
While we’re pursuing approval from the EPA to bring this product to market, in the meantime, we urge employers to follow CDC guidelines and take basic steps as they reopen offices across the country, such as: installing automated hand soap dispensers in every bathroom; switching to no-touch trash cans and garbage disposals; and cleaning, disinfecting and killing bacteria, germs and viruses at least every four hours with products that are available on the market. These necessary steps will protect employers and workers as we continue to battle the global health pandemic.
