I see Toronto is about to install copper coatings on high touch surfaces across its public transport system in an effort to cut the spread of infections.
It’s a simple step to boost public health that other countries should also consider.
The move by the Toronto Transit Commission & Translink follows a successful 4 week pilot recently ran in Vancouver which showed copper to be highly durable and effective at killing bacteria in laboratory and healthcare settings..
The new trial plans to confirm the Vancouver results by measuring copper surfaces on more transit vehicles over a longer duration of time across two different regions.
Fully funded by global resources company Teck—with no costs involved for the transit services—the Toronto trial will put copper on high-touch surfaces on a range of buses, subway cars and streetcars, as well as several TransLink buses and SkyTrain cars.
This is a big project with a lot of support. Other stakeholders involved include Vancouver Coastal Health, Mount Sinai Hospital/University Health Network, the Coalition for Healthcare Acquired Infection Reduction, University of British Columbia Department of Materials Engineering, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, and Westech Cleaning Audit Systems.
As Kevin Quinn from Translink said: “we have partnered with healthcare professionals to find creative ways to make transit cleaner and safer for our customers, and we’ve found that copper can kill up to 99.9 per cent of bacteria on transit surfaces so far.”
Copper’s bacteria & virus fighting fame are already well known. Copper is the only solid metal touch surface registered as a public health product by Health Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, proven to naturally eliminate up to 99.9% of bacteria.
We know copper works and where better to put it to use than public transport? Will Australia be next?
Cheers, John Fennell
