Business

Schnitzel Haus uses air treatment machine to prevent COVID spread

October 29, 2020 Jaime DeJesus

Ebrooklyn media/file photo

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A Bay Ridge restaurant that is struggling to keep its doors open is using special air purification to fight the spread of COVID-19.

German restaurant Schnitzel Haus, 7319 Fifth Ave., started using the air treatment machine in September. The machine uses anti-COVID technology to improve the safety of indoor air.

According to studies from the University of Florida, the technology by Nanovo Solutions and Puradigm significantly decreases the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The studies say the virus is undetectable after 24 hours of exposure to their technology.

Schnitzel Haus owner Alfred Urban believes the technology will help the city expand indoor capacity from its current 25 percent.

“We are hoping that the city and state sees that the restaurants are trying to work for a common good and to make it safe for our loyal customers to come back and eat at our establishments,” Urban said. “I also feel that once the city of New York sees the technology and the positive results from clinical research, that they may adopt some guidelines to have all establishments install this technology.”

Puradigm’s website says, “Its core technologies are designed to duplicate nature’s purification processes in indoor spaces of all sizes – homes, offices, food processing facilities, manufacturing facilities, schools, restaurants, casinos, and more.”

The University of Florida’s Department of Medicine found that Nanovo/Puradigm’s proactive air and surface purification technology inactivates 73.33 percent of infectious high levels of SARS-CoV-2 on stainless steel surfaces within only 15 minutes of exposure to the technology, 93 percent after 60 minutes, and 97.7 percent after four hours. After 24 hours of exposure to the technology, SARS-CoV-2 was undetectable.

Urban, who was loaned the machine by a friend, submitted the information to the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. A meeting has been set up for next week to discuss its usage and effectiveness. He said a few businesses in the area are interested in the technology.

“We want to share it with our fellow businesses,” he said. “Sure, we compete for clients with other restaurants, but we share customers with both them and every other business. The bottom line is that we all do better when we all thrive. What we don’t want is to be shut down for being another hot spot.”