Sunlight destroys coronavirus quickly, U.S. official claims

Actually the component of sunlight which effectively kills (or reduces the 1/2 life of) the virus is Ultraviolet Radiation (UV). The UV component of sunlight is also an effective disinfectant to a degree.

In the late 80s when I was performing engineering work in the U.S. some wastewater treatment plants started to use UV to treat wastewater streams and reduce the use of chemicals. The ability to kill microbes and viruses was well documented and proven.

However I do not believe this means a change of seasons will suddenly eliminate the virus however it may decrease infection rates.

As everyone knows masks are in limited supply. We have south facing windows and I have been hanging my masks which require reuse such that they will get direct sunlight (UV). Absolutely not perfect but anything that helps is good.

Encouraging news.

If we listened to Donny all Covid patients would be subject to UV blasts and injected with disinfectants!!!!

Thankfully America has some of the best doctors in the world who ignore their lunatic clown of a President.

Who, in their right mind, would take any medical/scientific advice from America?

You are joking, right

From American scientists you’d listen. You wouldn’t listen to the president who looks on course to restart the Tide pod challenge.

Hopefully we get enough lawsuits to drive Faux into bankruptcy and the band of bigots join the unemployed!!!!

Who, in their right mind, would take any medical/scientific advice from America?

You seem to be conflating the medical/scientific advice being outrageously expensive with it being faulty. It’s some of the best I’m the world, it’s just not reasonably accessible to many.

A somewhat strange announcement considering UV light disinfection has been common in clinics, hospitals, dentists etc for years. It is often used in conjunction with chemical disinfectants for maximum effect.

Many companies produce the devices & systems for UV-C(wavelength 200~400nm) which can destroy pathogens in seconds.

Even barbers / hairdressers use such to disinfect their tools of the trade.

Using the term half life as if this was a nucleotide is odd. Even if one virus survives out of a million, if it goes in your body it will multiply like crazy unlike one radioactive particle.

bass4funk: And forgot to point out that's on top of the US being the worst terms of response, and leading the world in infection and deaths, too, because of their advice and suggestions.

The new coronavirus is quickly destroyed by sunlight, according to a new study announced by a senior U.S. official on Thursday, offering hope that its spread may ease over the summer.

Expect Trump to try to patent sunlight, then package it and sell as a "Trump Sunshine - Cure for All"....

He'll sell it to our friends, allies, and enemies too - as long as they have some dirt on Biden to trade....

browny1: "A somewhat strange announcement considering UV light disinfection has been common in clinics, hospitals, dentists etc for years. It is often used in conjunction with chemical disinfectants for maximum effect."

Not really. Simple UV light can be used to disinfect inanimate objects with no harm, but with living things it penetrates the skin and can cause skin cancer and other complications. So, it is a specific type of UV that they are experimenting with (called "Far-UVC"). It's not like you can just open one of those shoe cases with the UV light and pour it onto patients with, or to avoid, Covid-19. Hence, the announcement.

Of course, Trump decided to speak out loud and talk about blasting people with "really powerful lights" and what not while the scientists chuckled and said, "Ummm... interesting..." to make him feel smart, but hey.

Given how numbers are taking off in Singapore, I wouldn't get too excited.

That's great news indeed. Every cloud has a silver lining. There's some people, though, who point out that the epidemic is also spreading in tropical countries where sunlight and humidity are affluent. Look at some countries in the southern hemisphere where it's summer there now, yet being hit by the epidemic, they may say.

But I have a different view from such claims. Life styles are being leveled off wherever one goes in today’s world. People live in air-conditioned houses, work in air-conditioned offices and shop in air-conditioned super markets. So there's no difference between tropical, temperate and cold regions in today's world.

lovely jubbly ! go photons !

here we go again. Yes UV light can destroy coronavirus in some situations. Which is what was said and the topic of this article.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200327-can-you-kill-coronavirus-with-uv-light

As a result, a concentrated form of UVC is now on the front line in the fight against Covid-19. In China, whole buses are being lit up by the ghostly blue light each night, while squat, UVC-emitting robots have been cleaning floors in hospitals. Banks have even been using the light to disinfect their money.

Who, in their right mind, would take any medical/scientific advice from America?

You are joking, right?