Fogger as Disinfectant

I live in the SF Bay area and our commuter train service recently sent out this video of them spraying the inside of the train cars.
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I couldn't understand from watching this what they were spraying. Ultimately they want the liquid to touch surfaces, right? There's no point in "cleaning" the air in a train car at the end of the day. They'd be better off just leaving the doors open.
From what I gathered from airlines using "fog machines" is that the atomized liquid (fog) would completely fill the passenger cavity and disenfect the vents and every touchable surface because the volume of fog filled the space. In the BART video, this liquid sprayer doesn't seem to be "touching" much of anything.
 
Just an update but the Wisconsin festival is off till next year.
 
@JohnD Hodag was an interesting saga to follow. They were given 25 conditions for their permit approval but they seemed kind of wishy washy to me. They said they would provide masks to volunteers/employees -- but no indication they would be required to wear. They were going to encourage festivalgoers to bring their own masks and would provide masks to anyone who didn't have one -- but again, no requirement to wear. They were going to limit crowd size to...16,0000...

The mask thing always seemed like futile -- the people who actually would've worn masks would've been handling them and taking them off regularly to drink and eat, likely contaminating their hands after touching their mask and face. Simply no way a music festival like that can be done safely right now, and most of the top acts probably would've backed out anyway.
 

Yes, this is getting to the right type of product - but again - cold atomizing foggers for application. Also from the people in the cleaning industry I've been talking to this is a 3 step process 1) fog until surfaces are damp, 2) wipe clean, 3) fog to dampness again and allow to dry before contact.
So, this is a process, not just turn the fogger on until you can't see and call it done.
 
Yes, this is getting to the right type of product - but again - cold atomizing foggers for application. Also from the people in the cleaning industry I've been talking to this is a 3 step process 1) fog until surfaces are damp, 2) wipe clean, 3) fog to dampness again and allow to dry before contact.
So, this is a process, not just turn the fogger on until you can't see and call it done.

The brochure says for surface disinfection you just need to apply enough to keep it wet for at least two minutes, then let it air dry. However, if the surface is soiled, then it does need to be cleaned first before it can be sanitized. It sounds like your cleaner friends are just describing an approach of using the same chemical as both cleaner and disinfectant. The BART video does not appear to show an effective technique unless they're using something very different from this product.
 
There is a country music festival scheduled for early July in Wisconsin.
PSW Thread.
Here is their Safety Plan
Notice point # 20. "Use fogging sanitizer to sanitize large areas such as shower buildings, bathrooms, bar and backstage based on Health Department recommendations"

So, I wonder what knowledge the Health Department staff will have about this? Are there any tested and proven fogging sanitizers available in the US yet?

Oh yeah, the safety plan (at least to me) sure has a lot of wiggle room, like they were just quickly checking off bullet points. One example "We will provide a mask for staff and volunteers".

The Festival this was for was approved by the local county health officers then cancelled the next day.

I suspect it was generated by the producers.
 
It is best to use alcohol. Among antiseptics, ethyl alcohol comes first. It is worth remembering that operating rooms are treated with it - and immediately, the confidence in this disinfectant increases. You can use 70% alcohol for surface treatment. But a 90% concentration will be ineffective. This mixture is too strong and destroys the cell membrane instantly, but does not have time to get to the virus itself due to the lack of water in the composition. The guys at <removed>, a cleaning company, gave me the idea. I thought the higher the degree, the better.
 
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I’ve been taught 70% is best, but suspect 90% gets a most of them. Personally I like something 4 – 5% EtOH in a dark amber :-}
 
It is best to use alcohol. Among antiseptics, ethyl alcohol comes first. It is worth remembering that operating rooms are treated with it - and immediately, the confidence in this disinfectant increases. You can use 70% alcohol for surface treatment. But a 90% concentration will be ineffective. This mixture is too strong and destroys the cell membrane instantly, but does not have time to get to the virus itself due to the lack of water in the composition. The guys at <removed>, a cleaning company, gave me the idea. I thought the higher the degree, the better.
The longer the last two years have gone on, the more obvious its become that fogging to prevent covid is theater
 
It is best to use alcohol. Among antiseptics, ethyl alcohol comes first. It is worth remembering that operating rooms are treated with it - and immediately, the confidence in this disinfectant increases. You can use 70% alcohol for surface treatment. But a 90% concentration will be ineffective. This mixture is too strong and destroys the cell membrane instantly, but does not have time to get to the virus itself due to the lack of water in the composition. The guys at emop.co.uk, a cleaning company, gave me the idea. I thought the higher the degree, the better.
oh this whole covid thing is freaking me out
why people don't see that we have much more important things to care about???
 
oh this whole covid thing is freaking me out
why people don't see that we have much more important things to care about???
Public heath, my personal health and safety at work, and the health and safety of others in the work place ARE priority things to care about.

As a person who has lost 12 friends or professional acquaintances to SARS-CoV-2 (and 2 dozen more with "long Covid") I'm not easily convinced to dismiss this virus or the disease process it causes.
 
When all this started we were concerned with virus contamination of surfaces. We now know that very few infections start that way and that aerial transmission is primary.

So I wonder, would working in a proper haze do any good? Or to put it another way. At what density does the haze absorb enough virus to make a medical difference?
 
When all this started we were concerned with virus contamination of surfaces. We now know that very few infections start that way and that aerial transmission is primary.

So I wonder, would working in a proper haze do any good? Or to put it another way. At what density does the haze absorb enough virus to make a medical difference?
Agreed. It became clear by midsummer 2020 that SARS-CoV-2 was a respiratory virus with little documented (almost none) fomite transmission. My earlier post was to not be dismissive of this virus, not to support sanitizing foggers.
 

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