Yesterday we released a podcast discussing all the reasons we should or shouldn't close our float centers. While we had collectively closed most of our centers, we also felt like we should not be telling other business owners what they should be doing.
This morning I woke up to an email thread including Dr. Feinstein and Dr. Roy Vore, 2 leading scientists in our industry, that removes any ambiguity regarding the choice we need to make.
Per Dr. Feinstein, Director of the Float Clinic & Research Center at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa Oklahoma:
Close all centers immediately!
Dr. Justin Feinstein
This virus spreads mostly through the healthy based on a new study that just came out... https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/03/13/science.abb3221.full
This means the virus would be all over the inner surface of the pod (which was exposed to their breath), and would require a very thorough disinfection of the inside after each floater since recent evidence shows it can survive on surfaces for days. The water would not be the likely route of transmission and CDC has already stated that, but the air via respiratory droplets would be a viable route and the inside of your pods would be completely exposed (yet another reason why the open pools are a better way forward). I wish I could offer you a more optimistic view. My lab is shutting down today and halting all research operations for the foreseeable future (as is the rest of LIBR).
Per Dr. Roy Vore who is a microbiologist and expert in recreational water illness and has been a great friend to the float industry:
Justin is correct in his analysis. Based on the public health data I am reviewing we currently have very large numbers of undocumented cases interacting across all age groups. The virus is much, much more wide spread than is currently being reported. Additional data from the CDC shows the virus remains infective at 24 hours on plastic and stainless surfaces at 40% relative humidity. The conditions inside the pods and within the float room should significantly lengthen that time period. While the high level of salt may help reduce viral load it will not do so significantly as viral particles are not subject to the same osmotic pressure as bacterial cells. Further, we do not have a validated method to disinfect the inside lid of the pod. Due to the unique nature of the inside surface of the pod lid and the potential of serious human health issues, I cannot develop such a method at this time.
Dr. Roy Vore
In simple terms, one asymptomatic person exhaling viral particles will contaminate the pod and those particle may remain infective for several days. If just one uninfected person touches the lid that person will initiate an entire new chain of infection resulting in tens to hundreds of other cases.
What is now coming out is up to 40% of the hospitalizations in the US are persons between 20 and 55 years old. The total number of cases are about to spike exponentially. The news reports that Florida and Texas beaches are crowded with college spring breakers. We should anticipate this getting much worse in the next three weeks.
Stay safe and keep out of crowds >10.
These two deeply understand the benefits of floating and understand how much it benefits our communities. Yet these are the people asking us to close our float centers.
Please consider their words as you make the choice to close or stay open. Please also consider that you may be drawing people out of isolation to visit other locations for food, gas etc while their main destination is your center, thus increasing the number of human contacts they have.
Stay safe my salty friends. Look out for one another. We will move on from all of this. Changed, but we will move forward.