UV disinfection has been used for decades to disinfect things like drinking water, surgical rooms, and medical equipment. However, it’s now possible to use UV rays to disinfect the air in your building. This is important for gyms, which can pose a serious threat to people’s health in the form of airborne germ transmission. In this article, we’ll explore why gyms are at risk for disease transmission and how UV disinfection can reduce those risks.
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UV Disinfection for Germs in Gyms & Fitness Centers
Gyms and fitness centers are a place where people go to improve their health through exercise. For many people, it’s their happy place to de-stress and get a good workout in. However, it also means that they are at risk for illnesses spread in many ways, including surface transmission and airborne transmission. UV disinfection inactivates germs, basically killing them before they can make people sick.
Unfortunately, preventing airborne germs in gym facilities can be next to impossible. After all, people can be contagious and spread germs before they even know they’re sick. Also, it can be almost impossible for gym employees to remove all members who might be contagious. Instead, using UV lights for disinfection can help kill germs in the air so there’s less risk for these issues.
Why Indoor Air Disinfection is Important for Gyms
UV light disinfection for gyms is important for many reasons. For one, it’s where many people congregate throughout the day, which means many people can fall sick from just one facility. Also, recent studies show that people who are exercising may exhale more germ particles than they do at rest. Therefore, it’s necessary to consider how to keep the air in your gym germ-free.
People Congregate in Gyms to Get in Shape, which Increases Germs in the Air
Gyms are a place where many people get together to work out. Even if people aren’t workout buddies, they’re still in the same space as dozens of other gym-goers. With gyms being open for several hours a day, and some even 24 hours a day, gyms can see traffic of hundreds or sometimes even thousands of people each day. This is especially true right now, with many people hitting the gym who don’t normally because of New Year’s resolutions to get in shape, lose weight, or lead a healthier lifestyle.
As people flock to gyms, so do their germs. They’re on the equipment, in the locker rooms, and in the air that everyone in the building breathes. This makes gyms a huge risk area for disease transmission, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exercise May Increase How Many Germ Particles Infected People Spread
What’s more, a new study shows that exercise may increase the number of germ particles people spread through the air. The study from May of this year looked at the number of COVID-19 virus particles in the air from people at rest and during exercise. They found that exercise increases virus particles people exhale by about 132 fold.
At rest, the subjects in the study released about 500 COVID-19 virus particles per minute. However, when exercising at maximum exertion, they released 76,000 per minute. This makes sense, as exercise makes people breathe deeper and faster. This may release more airborne germ particles.
This is a huge concern for gyms, as it means that the air in their facilities may be even more contaminated than other buildings that don’t have people exerting themselves regularly throughout the day. As such, indoor air disinfection may be needed even more in gyms than many other public buildings.
How Does UV Disinfection Help?
UV disinfection can help disinfect the air in gyms. This relies on using UV rays in light to target germs like bacteria and viruses that float through the air. Therefore, UV disinfection can be incredibly helpful in gyms to disinfect the air of potentially harmful pathogens.
UV Disinfection Inactivates Germs so They Can’t Make People Sick
Germs are susceptible to UV rays and can become damaged to the point that they can’t infect people. This is also known as germ inactivation. However, most people think of it as killing germs. Basically, when pathogens have direct contact with UVC rays for a certain amount of time, they get a deadly (to them) dose of radiation. This can damage their protein coatings and even unravel their DNA so they become basically harmless and can’t infect people or make them sick. UVC disinfection relies on using specific light technology to inactivate germs.
Indoor Air Disinfection with UVPhasors
Our UVPhasor technology is one of the best UV disinfection solutions for indoor air and uses proven technology to attack airborne germs. UVPhasors in gym facilities create a barrier of light in the upper air to kill germs as they float to the top of the room and before they enter air handling units for the HVAC system, which can spread germs widely throughout the building. With our UVPhasors, you get continuous disinfection even as people are in the gym without any harsh chemicals or extra labor from your staff.
Continuous Disinfection While People Work Out
One of the big concerns about UV disinfection is that it can expose people to UV rays that can also cause health risks. This is one of the reasons that UV disinfection usually happens in unoccupied spaces for things like surgical tools. However, our technology now offers a way to continuously disinfect the air in your building even while people are working out in your gym. With our technology, UV light stays only in the barrier far away from people, so there’s no human exposure. This means you can run your UVPhasors 24/7 without increasing risks to humans from UV rays while also killing airborne germs.
Chemical-Free Disinfection for the Air You Breathe
The word “disinfection” may bring to mind harsh chemicals and employees being taken away from their regular tasks to apply disinfectants for a certain period of time. However, with UVPhasor technology, you don’t need to worry about either of those issues. Our UV disinfection lights kill germs without any harsh chemicals and don’t need any additional work from your employees so they can focus on other tasks. So, it’s one less thing to worry about for your gym operations.
Give Members & Employees Peace of Mind with UV Disinfection from Farlite
Become Farlite Protected today to protect your members and employees from airborne pathogens. Our team at Farlite uses our sophisticated UV light disinfection technology to keep the air in your building germ-free. We work with a variety of industries, including gyms, schools, and retail spaces to provide continuous indoor air disinfection even in occupied spaces. Our solution is more than 99.9% effective at killing germs like COVID-19, influenza, and MRSA. Start disinfecting the air you breathe today – contact us today for a custom proposal.