Thought of the Day - November 16 - Translink at the Forefront

Many of the preventative measures explored and reported to combat COVID seem to take many, many, months before being adopted: Vitamin-D, N95 Masks, Contact Tracing App, Zone-based Restrictions just to name just a few. That said, as a public transport user I was glad to see that Translink, unlike when they belatedly introduced masks ( Thought of the Day - August 4 - Masks, Part of Translink Recovery Plan ), is actually at the leading edge; they are taking part in a pilot project that will install copper on high-touch transit surfaces - I'm impressed!

The transit authority says copper-based products and organosilane, a coating that protects against microbes, will be installed on SkyTrains and buses to test their ability to destroy viruses and bacteria. The pilot project is the first of its kind in North America. The products will be installed on two buses on busy routes and two SkyTrain cars on the Expo and Millennium lines. The surfaces will be tested twice a week for effectiveness, and also tested for durability.

As every avid sailor knows, pure metal ions have amazing antimicrobial properties. Ancient mariners used to chuck a coin in a water barrel to keep it fresh for much longer; vital if you are to spend months out of sight of land.

Oh, before you try this at home, pure silver and copper coins are a thing of the past. The cheap alloys we use now-a-days are designed for longer life and are much less reactive, thus have no therapeutic properties.

Cheers

Cliff