Disinfecting Offices, Schools, Hospitals And Venues Against Covid-19 In Non-Toxic Way

As restaurants, concert halls, offices and sports complexes seek to reopen to get people back to work and school and the economy moving again, everyone is looking for a way to make sure their facilities are safe against Covid-19.

In addition to WELL-Building certifications you can use, there are a bunch of disinfectants that have passed government requirements to disinfect Covid-19. Some are currently used in hospitals, but the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that healthcare-acquired infections (HAI’s) account for about 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths per year in the U.S., stating that 1 of every 25 patients in hospitals alone get infected. (Sources tell me that they don’t report them all because they are fined for them).

The Environmental Protection Agency has a list of pesticides that have been approved against Covid-19, most of which take about 10 minutes to take effect. The CDC recommends using a disinfectant with the shortest contact time Many disinfectants include bleach and other substances that are likely to be quite toxic. There’s even a class action lawsuit against one of the largest suppliers, Ecolab, by current and former hospital employees exposed to these chemicals asserting they suffered “serious physical injuries” from Ecolab’s products.

The CDC put out cleaning and disinfecting guidelines as part of coronavirus.gov, though they are rather vague.

A company that promotes its disinfecting system as an environmentally-friendly option is called R-Water. Their CEO and Founder Rayne Guest told me in an extensive interview on my podcast that their product is a patented device that makes both a disinfectant and a cleaning product that are completely environmentally-sound, throughout the supply chain.  

This product eliminates the supply chain, so there are no plastic jugs or cardboard boxes going into landfills with toxic chemicals on them, as with other products, she told me.  That means they also circumvent supply chain challenges many industries have been experiencing due to the pandemic.

R-Water owns the technology for the computerized device that makes the disinfecting solutions, and which exceed EPA standards for use against Covid-19. It distributes the device directly and through distributors. Their disinfectant is “regulated as an antimicrobial pesticide device, because it’s the device that actually produces the solutions,” Guest said, adding that it disinfects a surface in only one minute.  

Explaining how it works, she said, “the disinfectant is 99.98% water and .02% hypochlorous acid, and again hypochlorous acid is what your white blood cells produce to fight pathogens so your body recognizes it. European companies actually use hypochlorous acid for wound care.” It’s on the National Institutes of Health website as a potential treatment for wound care too.

Tips for checking if your office or venue or kid’s school is safe

Here are some ideas for how to determine if the facility is using disinfectants that are safe and effective:

1. “Find out what disinfectants are being used in your office space and your children's school,” Guest recommended.

2. Ask for the full effectiveness report on the product that the EPA gives. Here’s a sample report with results on page 15.

3. Look for contact time, which is how long the product needs to sit on the surface to be effective; it will be between 1 minute and 10 minutes. Shorter is better.

4. Look at the percent of effectiveness, such as if it’s 95% effective, that means 5% of the germs will still be left on the surface even after using the disinfectant. (You’ll see on page 9 of the EPA’s guidelines for disinfectants that 95% effective is all it takes to be a healthcare-grade disinfectant, so decide if that is safe “enough” for you and your family.)

5. Ask for any health effects associated with the product, such as asthma, allergies, lung issues, skin rashes, etc. For example, the residue left behind on the surface will be absorbed into our skin, so keep that in mind.  Some of the product labels even say, “keep away from children,” so you’ll want to find out if your kid’s school is using it or decide if you want it in your home. Read the fine print.

6. Check the company’s record for legal action, including pending actions or complaints.

Therefore, before you walk into the building or school, or send your kids, family or colleagues there, make sure everyone is safe not just from Covid-19, but from the disinfectants too.