Lt. Gov. McGeachin promotes 'walk-thru disinfectant cubes' to fight COVID

BOISE — Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R) on Tuesday touted a proposal she’s crafted to funnel millions of the state’s CARES Act funds to a Nevada company for technology including “walk-through disinfectant cubes” to be installed at the state Capitol.

McGeachin, who held a statewide virtual press conference with pastors and business owners around the state to decry current Gov. Brad Little’s coronavirus response and call for Idahoans to gather to celebrate Thanksgiving with “courage,” said with “very high-tech equipment” manufactured by Xtreme Manufacturing in Las Vegas, “A person can walk through a cube and be disinfected from head to toe, including on the bottom of their feet.”

Such technology has been widely discredited. According to the National Institutes of Health, a June study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene found “walk-through sanitation gates” ineffective and potentially dangerous, noting that the practice violates World Health Organization standards. “Fumigation is meant for inanimate objects and surfaces, and it should never be used on people,” the study said.

A May study published by the Royal Society for Public Health, also cited by the National Institutes of Health, said “disinfection tunnels” or “sanitization tunnels” initially were used in China, but proved to be both dangerous and useless for preventing the spread of COVID-19, which spreads through exhaled and inhaled droplets.

Read more: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/lt-gov-mcgeachin-promotes-walk-thru-disinfectant-cubes-to-fight-covid/article_f3989384-e4bd-574d-8335-e0a073b18226.html