Copper embedded fabrics and facemasks for rapid, irreversible destruction of Covid-19

在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间，预防公共及医疗环境中的病毒及细菌感染仍然是一项重大挑战。该病毒在全球所有受影响国家造成了多种健康和社会经济挑战，后果不明。开发有效的抗病毒药物和疫苗以科普COVID-19的感染和传播，最乐观的估计也需要几个月的时间。COVID-19的人际传播主要是通过鼻粘膜的气溶胶。防护性呼吸面罩用于保护医疗保健提供者和患者免受含有病毒或其他传染性病原体的液滴/气溶胶的伤害。几个世纪以来，人们已经知道铜、银和锌对多种病毒病原体具有有效的杀生物特性。我们建议利用铜的有效抗病毒活性来增强口罩的保护功能，增加对病毒基因组的快速不可逆破坏。在我们过去的研究中，我们证明了将铜合金热喷涂到各种热敏或聚合物表面（聚合物复合材料，木材，纸张）上可以在几分钟内杀死细菌。

Prevention of viral and bacterial infections in public and health care settings remains a major challenge during the pandemic of COVID-19. The virus has globally created multiple health and socioeconomic challenges in all affected countries with unknown consequences. The development of effective anti-viral drugs and vaccines to cope with infection and spreading of COVID-19 are several months away at the best estimation. Human-to-human transmissions of COVID-19 are mainly by aerosol from the nasal mucosa. Protective respiratory facemasks are used for the protection of both health care providers and patients from the droplets/aerosols containing viruses or other infectious pathogens. Copper, silver, and zinc have been known for centuries to have potent biocidal properties for a wide range of viral pathogens. We are proposing to take advantage of the potent antiviral activity of copper to enhance the protective function of facemasks adding the rapid irreversible destruction of viral genomes. In our past studies, we demonstrated that thermal spraying of copper alloys onto various heat sensitive or polymeric surfaces (polymer composites, wood, paper) kills bacteria within a few minutes.