Eddie Currents:
Hi all (In particular health care experienced engineers)

I am reading that many Lighting manufacturers are looking at the introduction of UV-C Type lighting maybe used for wheeling into rooms following Covid 19 exposure within an infected room. Once the infected person has left the room then the lights can be wheeled in and switched on from outside the room or via a timer and left in situ which in theory kills the virus. In theory like a fumigation process using Lighting. I know these type of lights can be dangerous and they cause temporary damage to the cornea if observed directly and UV-C is also a carcinogen for human skin. Obviously installed in a controlled environment with limited/no exposure time is the golden rule here using these lights which must have a safe purification wavelength. Does anyone have any guidance on this as personally i think it should come from Public Health ? 

It's perfectly feasible to use mobile lamp units emitting UV-C at or around peak wavelength of 254 nm which is close to the germicidal susceptibility peak. As you've identified, you don't want people  present. You also have to be sure the light is impacting all relevant surfaces to be effective - and therein lies the problem. You can get mobile robot units that can reasonably effectively patrol a room and sweep all the surfaces with light  - however, my limited experience of them in Healthcare settings is that a cleaning team is usually more effective  - certainly I've seen swab and smear tests of rooms that have had quite long exposure to UV-C come back from infection control with positive cultures of some pretty nasty stuff from areas where it's reasonable to deduce that some shielding of light was going on.


In a stripped out room with furniture and fixtures undergoing separate decontam, they are more useful. In most healthcare settings, time is important so it's a balance of effectiveness against the next occupation


In a healthcare setting, I'd expect the infection control team to be giving guidance


Regards


OMS