COVID-19: Impregnation of BODIPY photosensitizers in disposable mask fabric to reduce COVID-19 viral loading

在当前的新冠肺炎大流行中，口罩对于确保一线医护人员的安全免受病毒感染至关重要。公众也越来越多地接受戴口罩作为减缓冠状病毒传播的一种手段，这在保持安全社交距离具有挑战性的环境中尤其重要。这项提议将开发一种方法，通过接触受病毒污染的口罩来降低感染新冠肺炎的风险。为了实现这一目标，可以在环境光中激活的染料将被纳入一次性口罩的外层。一旦染料被激活，沉积在口罩上的病毒将通过光化学反应被灭活。这种灭活病毒的方法将通过减少戴口罩时感染的风险来提高普通公众的保护水平。

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, masks are essential to ensure the safety of frontline healthcare workers from viral infections. Wearing face mask by the general public has also been increasingly accepted as a means to slow the spread of coronavirus, which will be particularly important in environments where maintaining safe social distance is challenging. This proposal will develop a means to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 by touching virus-contaminated masks. Toward this goal, dyes that can be activated in ambient light will be incorporated into the outer layer of disposable masks. Upon activation of the dyes, viruses that are deposited on the mask will be inactivated through photochemical reactions. This method of virus inactivation will improve the level of protection of the general public by reduction of the risk of infections while wearing face masks.