NIC kicks COVID to the curb with fog
Garry Stark, North Idaho College director of facilities operations, uses a portable fogging machine to spray a hypochlorous acid solution in the NIC Schuler Performing Arts Center on Sept. 18. The substance quickly, effectively, and safely deactivates the virus that causes COVID-19.
(Victoria Michael/North Idaho College)
If you see Garry Stark around the North Idaho College campus carrying a small machine with a wand attached that he’s waving in the air, it’s not a Proton Pack, and Stark is not busting ghosts.
No, Stark, NIC’s facilities operations director, his custodial team, and some other people on campus are virus-busting. They're using fogging machines to disperse a chemical solution approved by the EPA for use against SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.
And, they're using a homegrown solution. They’re spraying hypochlorous acid, or HOCI, which is being made right in NIC's labs for use across campus.
"This is a cure-all for a multi-faceted problem," said David Abshere, NIC Laboratory manager and chemical hygiene officer.
When pressed to find a fast, effective way to decontaminate the college's labs and the various surfaces found in such spaces – tools, microscopes, lens paper, and more – Abshere looked into the possibility of using HOCI, which NIC Geology Professor Bill Richards was considering using to decontaminate rock samples. For years, the substance has been an effective disinfectant in various industries, including farming, restaurants, food production and health care.
In a report published in June 2020 by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, researchers said HOCI "can be used with high predictability for disinfecting against the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) virus." This report and other publications also touted using foggers to spray the solution, stating HOCI fogs are highly effective in the microbial disinfection of surfaces when dispersed at the proper concentration level.
Soon, the NIC labs purchased fogging machines along with several gallons of the hypochlorous acid solution. Abshere said they found it to be a quick way to decontaminate the lab spaces with confidence.
"It oxidizes quickly," he said. "It kills bacteria, viruses, everything."
It's also safe. HOCI is naturally occurring in the human body, and it can be created outside the body by electrolyzing salt water. It's one of just a few agents that can bust dangerous bacteria and viruses while not damaging human cells.
"It breaks down to salt," Abshere said. “It leaves virtually no residue.”
The only hiccup in using the product was the price of the solution. At $50 a gallon and labs, and potentially hundreds of other spaces at NIC to treat this way, purchasing HOCI for fogging was not a budget-friendly option.
"I realized, we can make this here in the lab, but we don't have the machinery to do it," Abshere said.
They needed a generator designed to produce the product, so Abshere submitted a proposal to the college administration, and NIC soon purchased the machine.
Now, the labs at NIC are being fogged with homegrown HOCI three times a day.
Facilities Operations is now beginning to use the process, and the NIC-made solution, in other college buildings. Facilities Operations Director Garry Stark said NIC now owns six fogging machines, in addition to those used in the labs, and one will be placed at Parker Technical Education Center. The other will go to the Workforce Training Center.
"We plan on fogging all instructional spaces that were occupied that day," Stark said.
One of the foggers is now in use in Boswell Hall, where the staff members in Schuler Performing Arts Center have been trained and will be regularly fogging the 1,200-seat event venue, although no public events are happening there during the fall semester. Instead, the large space is used these days to allow for physical distancing when large classes of students take chemistry and biology exams. Musical rehearsals are also happening in Schuler.
"Even though we have limited the capacity of the space by designating only certain seats to be used, the other seats still get touched as people use the seat backs like a handrail as they walk to their assigned seats," said NIC Conferencing and Campus Events Coordinator Jay Carkhuff. "The fogger allows all of the seating to be sanitized quickly and thoroughly and eliminates the need to wipe down every surface."
Abshere said having the foggers has brought him some peace of mind when he thinks about NIC's many lab students during this pandemic.
"We have over 2,900 students coming through nine physical spaces each week," Abshere said. "Now I feel comfortable about that."