The Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Government in South Carolina completed an installation of Krypton GO Far UV-C lights with USUV Cleans on 331 school buses across its 4-county region’s 5 school districts. Far UV-C solutions provide passive ongoing disinfection, thereby adding an important layer of resilience. They have been shown to inactivate 99.9% or more of SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that leads to COVID-19, its variants, the common cold and flu and other illnesses that have plagued our schools.

This project directly protects 33,729 kids & 331 bus drivers. The secondary impact is in the classrooms and the homes of approximately 90,370 additional individuals, many of them elderly who often have health conditions that can lead to a higher risk of infection from COVID-19 or other viruses. Far UV-C light provides peace of mind for our children, their parents, their teachers, school administrators and Boards, bus drivers and everyone who comes into contact with them.

We understand the schools are a CRITICAL part of our community. If we can put this technology on our buses, we can make our schools that much safer. Our kids are our future.  A win for our kids is a win for our whole community.  If we fail to invest in our schools, we choose to go backwards in economic and community development because those kids are our pipeline.  I’ve done a lot of projects in my time at Santee-Lynches and this is the most important project I’ve done. Because collectively, we have taken care of the least of these, while taking care of the masses.  When we take care of the least of these, we are that tie that causes every ship to rise.  When every ship rises, our community is better.

Krypton Lighting provides a timely and strategic preventative solution to ensure operational readiness and resilience of the warfighter at home and abroad.

Laboratory studies first showed that far-UVC is super efficient at killing airborne viruses, including coronaviruses and flu viruses – the type of virus or variant simply doesn’t matter. And scaling up to full-sized rooms, the most recent studies, by a joint UK-US team, have now been done in a full-sized room continuously filled with airborne microbes – just like a room with people who are continuously coughing: their results (Eadie et al 2022) imply that safe levels of far-UVC light in an occupied room can provide almost as much protection as simply stepping outside into the open air.

When I look at a new company and a new product, I look for special things about it that make it better.  UV has different ranges and it will kill COVID, but with 222nm Far UV, our skin isn’t susceptible to it. I’m impressed that they’ve [Far UV Technologies] thought things out and have come up with such a good solution.

Far UV lighting has provided us a singular effective option to blunt the spread of COVID and other illnesses in critical operational spaces throughout our facilities for over a year.  Far UV lighting can and will significantly contribute to operational readiness across the Services, Combatant Commands and wider DOD enterprise.

Natural ventilation is unreliable and mechanical ventilation [HVAC] and room air cleaners are flow limited.  It is important to compare air disinfection strategies in terms of equivalent Air Changes per Hour (eACH).  The CDC recommends 6-12 ACH but it has to do with the infectiousness of [the pathogen.  The greater the infectiousness, the greater the eACH needed for protection. UV is efficient because it treats a large volume of air at once. Whole room Far UV, importantly, treats the air immediately around occupants and does it safely.  Over 5 million people have died from COVID, and many more are left with serious or debilitating consequences.  It is unlikely that anyone has ever suffered any serious medical consequences of UVC exposure properly deployed for air disinfection.

The Proverbial Come-As-You-Are War

The desire for better disinfection will not go away as the pandemic winds down. As with any warfighting activity, the bottom line is when you come into a new war you always fight with the weapons you had developed and implemented in advance. People have woken up to the fact that fighting viruses is a war and the economic costs of not dealing with them in advance is grave. Far ultraviolet light is the most effective tool in our arsenal.

Krypton disinfection lighting provides the most comprehensive, effective, safe and easy to use countermeasure for dangerous pathogens in occupied spaces – where transmission is most likely to occur. It presents a transformative opportunity in our fight against Multi Drug Resistant Organisms (MDROs). Its ability to provide continuous air and surface disinfection, without disrupting clinical workflows, adds a critical layer of protection against Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) and Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs). In an era where antimicrobial resistance continues to outpace new drug development, this solution could become a cornerstone in infection prevention strategy.

One of the most compelling things about Far UV we found in our due diligence was the consensus we gathered from subject matter experts as to the safety and efficacy of the solution in occupied spaces.  Combined with the ease of use and the continuing threat of dangerous pathogens, we envision Far UV lighting becoming an integral part of defense and civilian infrastructure safety.

Just like a smoke detector protects us from unexpected fire hazards, Krypton lighting now protects us from unexpected, dangerous pathogens.  And they’re just as easy to install.

We haven’t had a single person to person transmission inside our facility.  Simply having a layer of protection in place has been encouraging to others to continue to take part in our model and continue to do business with us.  Our base knows they can come here because they know we will respect social distancing and they are ensured a safe working environment, free from COVID with Far UV light.

We have three Krypton Disinfection Lights installed in our candy shop. It’s great to have something that runs 24/7 and lowers viral loads present. Eliminating the need for chemical means is important for us as a candy shop. In the heavily hit state of ND, I need all the tools in the toolbox.