Muskogee County commissioners are considering the installation of technology that would continuously disinfect the air and surfaces at the jail and other county-owned facilities.
Independent testing has shown ActivePure technology to be an effective way to destroy viruses, bacteria, fungi and mold spores. CDC-approved labs hired by the Dallas-based company are reported to have found the technology capable of reducing concentrations of the novel coronavirus in the air and on surfaces by more than 99% within hours.
Les Whitaker of BioSafe Global Technologies said the NASA-inspired technology was developed for use on the International Space Station. ActivePure technology was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in hospital settings, he said, and it has been deployed at the Cleveland Clinic and other prestigious medical facilities.
"It's a proactive technology ... that sends hydroxyl ions into the air on a seek-and-destroy mission to kill pathogens in real time," Whitaker said. "It doesn't have to suck air through a filter, which merely traps that contaminant — this actually is a proactive technology that goes into the air and kills the pathogens."
Britton Nevitt, co-owner of Pleasant Valley Health Care Center, said she and her husband, Danny Nevitt, installed ActivePure technology in August at the Muskogee facility. She said there have been no new COVID-19 cases reported among residents since the technology was deployed.
Nevitt said she likes the fact that the technology constantly cleans and disinfects air and hard surfaces. She said deploying the technology makes sense in settings where people live and work in close proximity to others.
"This will kill different things that can end up in nursing homes — infections and other stuff that are harder to kill than COVID-19 — and we're really happy about that," Nevitt said. "Whatever we can do to to make things better and help protect our residents, we're going to try."
Whitaker, a Muskogee businessman whose company has one of five commercial distributorships for the ActivePure technology in the United States, sold the idea to the Nevitts at Pleasant Valley HCC. He said the facility likely is the first nursing home in Oklahoma to deploy "this cutting-edge technology."
"The nursing home industry is ... serious about safety," Whitaker said during a recent pitch to county commissioners about ActivePure technology. "I believe this technology provides better protection than anything in the marketplace today, and you're really taking care of your people when you put something in that is so proactive."
District 3 Commissioner Kenny Payne said while a decision has yet to be made, he is impressed with the technology. Payne said he "really likes what he has seen."
"For the jail and the courthouse, where you have a lot of people, this really makes sense," Payne said. "If it does what they say it can do, it will protect the public and our county employees."
Emergency Management Director Jeff Smith said based on his research and material provided by the company, installing the technology "does make a lot of sense."
Whitaker said he would hire a third-party laboratory to conduct pre-installation and post-installation testing for the purpose of demonstrating the effectiveness of technology.
Gloss