Face mask protect us all to a high degree from infection with Covid-19

Any wipe disinfection always poses a risk to the employee in question. Thus, service robots are gaining importance in this context. In the "MobDi" (Mobile Disinfection) project, twelve Fraunhofer institutes are working on new robotic solutions for efficient, but also gentle disinfection in various operational environments. To this end, they are researching different cleaning and disinfection processes and their possible combinations. For example, a robot could first wipe a door handle and then disinfect hard-to-reach areas with UV light. We have already presented the Hero21 disinfection robot, which uses UV-C radiation to independently remove germs from rooms, in this interview.

Of aerosols and air filters

However, the main route of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to be respiratory uptake, i.e. infection via the air we breathe or via aerosols exhaled by infected persons. Air purifiers are experiencing a boom thanks to the pandemic. One such filter system is the Hygiene Air Tower from IVAT GmbH, which cleans the air of more than 99.99 percent of all viruses using four-stage high-performance filters and UV-C radiation. This meets the requirements of an operating theater. According to a study by the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich, the room air should be changed at least six times every hour – even more frequently in the case of particularly high or low humidity, low temperatures or a ppm value of more than 1000. The tower's unique, patent-pending measurement technology monitors precisely these parameters and adjusts the air exchange rate accordingly. In addition, the low-noise Tower is capable of cooling or heating rooms, filtering odors, and disinfecting hands and objects. The integrated camera can be used for video conferencing, as a people counter, as a thermal imaging sensor or for surveillance.

Whereas at the beginning of the pandemic the main focus was on meeting the urgent need for protective equipment, solutions are now being developed to make daily life easier with the new requirements. Traditional products such as masks are being optimized, more efficient disinfection procedures are being researched, and tools are being developed to help with proper compliance. All innovations have one thing in common: they protect us all to a high degree from infection with Covid-19 and make an important contribution to containing the pandemic.