According to a recent post by MJH Life Sciences™, the largest privately held medical media company in the United States,  the newest finding is that the number of bacteria present on an elevator button is almost 40 times higher than on a public toilet seat.

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Nicholas Moon, PhD, director of technical and regulatory affairs at Microban Europe, for which the research was carried out, explains, “In a busy building, an elevator button can be touched by dozens of different people who will have come into contact with all kinds of bacteria every hour. Even if the buttons are cleaned regularly, the potential for the build-up of bacteria is high. It is easy to see that in some environments, perhaps especially airports and hotels where there are thousands of people from different places regularly touching lift buttons, that they could be a major potential point for cross-contamination and the spread of disease.”

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South Korea reported the “first case of COVID-19 transmission inside an elevator”

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The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has been transmitted inside an elevator, marking the first such case in South Korea.

A 41-year-old female working for the Seongdong District Office was confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 after being in an elevator with a minister of Myeongseong Church, COVID-19 patient, at Prior Palace Apartment in Seoul at around 8 a.m. on Feb. 18, according to Gangdong District, Seoul on Friday. The two were in the elevator together for about a minute without wearing masks. Also in the elevator were the woman’s two children, who wore masks and were tested negative.

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Even The National Elevator Industry, Inc. (NEII) and the International Union of Elevator Contractors (IUEC) provide a statement to better educate their mechanics on ways to mitigate the risk of COIVD-19.

And there’s another post by Point Energy Innovations –  COVID-19 and Office Building HVAC Responses

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A virally infected droplet nucleus from one space can travel through ducted air pathways, leaky air filters, fans, dampers and grills, and end up in other parts of a building. The principal role of HVAC in disease transmission prevention is to remove contaminated airborne nuclei droplets from spaces and reduce the risk of spread to other spaces. ASHRAE advises that this can be accomplished through⁴:

  • Supplying clean air to susceptible occupants
  • Containing contaminated air and/or exhausting it to the outdoors
  • Diluting the air in a space with cleaner air from outdoors and/or by filtering the air
  • Cleaning the air within the room

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The elevator is needed healthy and comfortable indoor air quality (IAQ) for using many people. Usually, the air in the elevator car is sucked from the elevator‘s hoistway straight into the car using a fan, which may be filled with dust, mold and bacteria. And there are many air pollutants such as aerosol, virus, pathogenic bacteria, PM2.5, odor gas, droplets, mites,and formaldehyde in the elevator car as well. All the pollutants can accumulate to levels that can pose serious health and comfort problems.

There’s no doubt an elevator carries a high risk of transmission due to its confined space. This is why an elevator car purification, sterilization, and isolation system is needed. The elevator air purifier system is a combination of a sterilization box on the elevator car top and a customized ceiling air supply system. The main function of the sterilization box is to supply clean and treated air, the principle as follows:

The second process is to supply the treated air to elevator cars with the ceiling air supply system. With our innovative design, the airflow will form several matrix air curtain “isolations” to surround passengers’ head areas. It will effectively cut off/block the transmission of viruses caused by breathing, droplets or aerosols and avoid contact or cross-infection. And it will kill the viruses on the elevator car surface periodically when in unoccupied condition.

We hope to stay together with you and battle the COVID-19. If you are elevator manufacturers, elevator modernization engineer, elevator contractor or even a proprietor to better protect your staff or tenants from exposure to COVID-19, you may reach out to us. And we will check what we can do to better support you.

Key Elements: COVID-19, ELEVATOR MODERNIZATION, ELEVATOR STERILIZATION, INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN ELEVATOR CABS, DISINFECTION ELEVATOR