Thu, 03/11/2021
In work that has appeared in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Prof. Luzzatto-Fegiz and collaborators have shown that SARS-CoV-2 is inactivated by sunlight at a rate that is an order of magnitude faster than predicted by established theories.
This observation suggests that other, currently neglected inactivation mechanisms must be considered; a likely candidate includes multi-step reactions involving the surrounding medium and UVA light.
If confirmed, this could have significant practical importance, since UVA can be generated and used more affordably, efficiently and safely than UVC, which so far has been the primary wavelength used for light disinfection.