LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — One Las Vegas company is shifting its business model to a new invention designed to sanitize large spaces in minutes amid the coronavirus pandemic by harvesting the power of the sun.
Jarrid Mendelson, owner of 24 Seven Productions, calls his new product UVC Disinfectant Custom Solutions.
It's a five-and-a-half foot tower filled with radiators and bulbs that emit UVC radiation killing pathogens in the air and on surfaces in a wide radius without the use of chemicals.
"We could go into a large area before an event, turn a fleet of these things on, and within minutes we can go through different areas and you're good to go," Mendelson.
Mendelson knows large events well.
The company he runs, 24 Seven Productions, has provided materials and entertainment for conventions and high-end parties for 14 years.
The coronavirus brought that business to a grinding halt in the middle of March.
"I mean, it was numb," Mendelson says, "we were saying that this was going to be our best year."
He says his hope is that UVC Disinfectant Custom Solutions can help revive the industry while giving his own business a chance to survive the downturn.
Dr. Christina Madison, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Roseman University of Health Sciences, says there is a well-established history of UVC devices killing airborne pathogens.
"The best example of that would be tuberculosis, which is another communicable respiratory infectious disease," she says.
Madison says it's reasonable to believe that a large device with powerful bulbs could disinfect large areas like event spaces ridding the area, at least temporarily, of the coronavirus.
The one drawback, Madison says, is UVC radiation can damage human skin.
Mendelson said UVC Disinfectant Custom Solutions is designed to be used in an empty room, but it beeps loudly while on to alert anyone who may open the room and has motion sensors that will shut the lights off when anyone walks by.
"Nobody makes something like this," he says.
Mendelson says he will launch UVC Disinfectant Custom Solutions next week, and plans to roll out different products designed to sanitize shopping carts, golf carts, school class rooms and more in the coming weeks.
He says the device will be available through their newly created website.
