Coronavirus In Minnesota: St. Louis Park Company Helping World Disinfect Of COVID-19
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (WCCO) -- When concerns about the emerging novel coronavirus first landed at Delta in early February, the Atlanta-based carrier turned to a small St. Louis Park company. It needed a better way to efficiently and effectively disinfect the interiors of its fleet.
Not long before, a video began circulating on social media showing others in Asia spraying down arriving passengers.
"We saw video out of Asia that sprayed people coming off planes. That one video got 54 million views. We knew at that point the wave was coming," Kyle Wheaton said.
For Wheaton, co-founder of Victory Innovations, that wave landed like a tsunami. His company designed and manufactures cordless electrostatic sprayers. The two models, both handheld and backpack versions, emit charged particles of liquid disinfectant.
"We're putting a positive charge on the liquid that's being sprayed," Wheaton said.
Much like tiny magnets, the virus killing chemicals firmly and completely coat any sized or shaped surface, giving applicators a more complete coverage.
"Remember back to your physics days, opposites attract. We're putting positive charge on a particle and it's looking for a neutral or negative charged surface to stick to," he said.
The sprayers are now used in schools, hospitals and fitness centers. But with a pandemic gripping the globe, inventories are quickly being depleted, so Victory is ramping up production.
"We're there to make janitors and custodians jobs easier. And we're happy folks like Delta and others are on board and become aware of it," Wheaton said.
Because the electrostatic mist is more efficient, it uses less chemicals to do the job, saving companies dollars and all of us our health.