AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – As businesses around the country shuttered in the pandemic, a local electrician found a way to make his company thrive. His idea keeps people safe and helps other businesses keep the lights on.
As an electrician, Steve Shuey of Viraclean USA knows a thing or two about lighting.
“It’s all about the UVC lamp,” Shuey said. “You have to get the right lamp.”
So, he knows that special kinds of UV rays — called UVC– can kill germs and viruses. When he noticed that PPE was being thrown out frequently, he knew he could use lights to help.
“The demand all of a sudden has exploded a little more than I expected it,” Shuey said.
Enter his invention, the Virunator.
“Basically, they can put this in a room, put all their up, and this will kill everything on it,” Shuey explained.
We saw as the pandemic progressed, so did the problems. Businesses were shutting down for hours on end to disinfect, followed by ambulances, classrooms, and daycares.
“They could take this same small unit and hang it in an ambulance. Fifteen minutes, it’s completely clean,” Shuey said. “Schools, now they can roll this into a classroom.”
And while the idea is not new, Steve’s Virunator’s are smaller and more affordable.
“They use the same technology in emergency rooms in a lot of the big hospitals – but those units cost $125,000,” Shuey said.
Steve’s device is a fraction of that price. But he says after weeks of testing, it shows that they work, and his demand is only picking up from here.
“I’ve got people from Denver, all up the coast,” he said.
So in a time when some businesses had to turn their lights off, one business is turning it on.
Shuey says his product shouldn’t be a replacement for cleaning, but it can help get the spots you might miss when wiping things down. He also says UVC lighting shouldn’t come in contact with skin.