Patrick McKenzie

Far-UVC Offers Building-Scale Pathogen Control, but Population Effects Remain Unproven

Aerolamp CEO Misha Gurevich and chief scientist Vivian Belenky, a Columbia University researcher, argue that 222-nanometer far-UVC fixtures can inactivate airborne pathogens at room scale for about $500 per lamp, without penetrating beyond the body’s outer protective layers. They see the main obstacle as adoption rather than basic engineering, particularly in schools, care facilities and transit settings where shared-air exposure is concentrated. But Belenky cautions that the evidence has not yet established how much ordinary disease transmission occurs slowly enough for room-scale treatment to substantially reduce infections.