American Airlines to Use New Surface Coating that Kills Virus for 7 Days
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today approved a public health emergency exemption waiver for Allied BioScience submitted by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The approval allows the use of SurfaceWise2 among Texas-based customers to provide continuous effectiveness in protecting against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. American Airlines and an Orthopedics business, both based in Texas are now the first companies that use the new product.
Allied BioScience’s SurfaceWise2 coating is now the first and only surface coating approved by the EPA. It can be used to continuously protect against COVID-19 with a single application. It claims to keep surfaces virus-free for seven days. SurfaceWise2 is the latest surface coating from Allied BioScience with antiviral properties that continuously kill 99.9% of viruses on surfaces, the press release says. The non-toxic coating is applied via an electrostatic spray to provide always-on protection on treated surfaces.
“This is a major, game-changing announcement for our efforts to combat coronavirus and Covid-19,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters on a conference call as reported by Bloomberg. “This is a groundbreaking step that is expected to provide a longer-lasting protection in public spaces.”
American Airlines will begin spraying the product across its fleet. However, its use is limited to the state of Texas under the current EPA authorization. Allied BioScience is pursuing this emergency waiver across all 50 states. But until then, it’s not clear how American Airlines will proceed for now.
Public Confidence
The new product could help restore public confidence in air travel during the coronavirus pandemic. Airlines have used a variety of measures to convince travelers to start flying again. They have even admitted that some of the measures are aimed at boosting confidence, even though they don’t actually do much to prevent the spread on the virus.
Air travel is improving in recent weeks. But it is still down 70% compared to last year, based on passenger screenings by the TSA at U.S. airports. At its lowest point in April, travel was down 96%.
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Isn’t AA a virus so this should kill them, too.
Is the coating going to kill us too? I don’t fault the EPA, which now has sensible leadership and doesn’t over regulate harmless activities, for issuing an emergency waiver given the COVID issue. I am concerned how the coating will react to passengers’ skin. Flight attendants probably are aware of issues with uniforms causing skin irritation. I hope it is not the same. I am sensitive to chemicals. We definitely want cabins better cleaned and traditional sanitizers like isopropyl alcohol being sprayed might be preferable to a coating. I just hope AA did research.