While antimicrobial fabrics are not new — manufacturers of scrubs and other hospital items, for instance, have been using them for years — they are mainly designed to fight bacteria. Unlike viruses, bacteria can multiply on surfaces without a living host. But the pandemic has created an interest in antiviral fabrics, and enterprising companies are responding. Textiles treated with chemicals aimed at destroying SARS-CoV-2 particles (SARS-CoV-2 is the official name of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19) are turning up in everything from face masks to men’s dress shirts. The question is, can these items act as a shield to ward off COVID-19? Or should buyers beware? RELATED: Your COVID-19 Summer Safety Guide
How Antiviral Clothing Might Work
A front-runner in the antiviral textile business is Intelligent Fabric Technologies North America (IFTNA), a Toronto-based biotech company that produces a fabric treatment called Protex (officially known as PROTX2AV). The company’s lab tests have shown that Protex can kill 99.9 percent of SARS-CoV-2 particles within 10 minutes. The company is currently awaiting approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to market Protex as effective at destroying the novel coronavirus. “[Protex is] an important tool in breaking the chain of infection,” says, Giancarlo Beevis, president and CEO of IFTNA. “Some people say there are things that are going to save everyone from COVID-19. I don’t want to necessarily represent that,” he adds. But “every surface we can prevent this virus from living on, the better for us.” He gives an example of how antiviral fabric might reduce the chance of infection for someone who touches a contaminated surface. “If someone sneezes on a bench, then you sit on it and wipe your hands on your pants and then touch your nose, that’s a big area where we can see [Protex] working. It’s prevention in day-to-day life.” Protex-treated fabrics, he says, offer an additional measure of safety and peace of mind. “It’s not like you have to remember to put hand sanitizer on every two minutes,” he says. Protex is forging ahead on product development and brand partnerships. In mid-June, Under Armour launched Sportsmask, a Protex-coated face covering. Companies like North Face and Careismatic Brands — a large maker of scrubs as well as retail clothing for Dickies and Cherokee — are also slated to release Protex-treated apparel in the coming months. Later this year, IFTNA plans to launch a laundry product people can use to apply its antiviral chemical to their clothes at home, and by 2021, it will debut its own Underit line of Protex-treated activewear, like jogging pants and sports bras. Competitors are also striving for a share of the worldwide antimicrobial clothing market, estimated to hit $20.5 billion by 2026, according to Global Market Insights. In the United Kingdom, the biotech company Virustatic claims its fabric treatment Virustatic Shield can protect against COVID-19. The Italian luxury fabric company Albini Group, which produces shirts for Armani and Prada, is making anti-COVID-19 fabrics using a Swiss textile technology called HeiQ Viroblock.
An Infectious Disease Specialist Weighs ln
Infectious diseases specialists are not convinced that antiviral clothes could have a significant protective function. “Unless you’re licking your pants, no one is getting COVID-19 from their clothing,” says Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a professor of medicine at Harvard. “I would like to see a study showing that the pants [made with the new antiviral fabrics] were as effective as hand sanitizer in preventing transmissions — not in killing the virus, but in preventing transmissions.” He adds, “I’m sure the material does inactivate the virus, but if so, so what? You’d still get [COVID-19] the way everyone else is getting COVID-19.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) consider person-to-person contact with respiratory droplets produced while talking, sneezing, or coughing to be the main mode of coronavirus transmission. “The numbers of cases of COVID-19 transmitted by people who happened to touch a surface where someone recently sneezed — cases that might be prevented by wiping your hands on an antiviral fabric — are minuscule compared with the cases transmitted by droplet transmissions,” Dr. Kuritzkes says. “That’s why the CDC has deemphasized surface transmission.” RELATED: Food Safety and COVID-19: A Guide for Handling Groceries and Takeout
The Bottom Line
Even if COVID-19-fighting apparel begins flooding stores, the protection trifecta of mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing recommended by infectious disease specialists won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The best-case scenario for antiviral fabrics is that they might offer another weapon in the arsenal. That’s if people can even get their hands on these fabrics. This summer, the Under Armour Sportsmask became even more elusive than those coveted tubes of disinfectant wipes, with the first product release selling out in less than an hour.
