“During this global pandemic, it is essential that companies like Carrier do what we can to help stem the spread of the disease and protect caregivers, hospital workers, and patients,” said Carrier President & CEO Dave Gitlin. “Carrier’s strength lies in the expertise, creativity and passion of our employees to solve some of society’s most challenging problems. I am so proud of our team for identifying a need and quickly developing an innovative solution that will have an immediate impact for hospitals throughout the country.”

Reducing Risk in Hospitals

While hospitals generally have air filtration systems that reduce the spread of infectious diseases, those systems might only be available in certain sections of the hospital. The rate at which COVID-19 spreads has put inordinate strain on hospitals in the most affected cities, where there are more COVID-19 patients than there are infectious isolation rooms. As a result, hospitals have had to convert rooms that were not intended for patients with infectious diseases, and new field hospitals have been established that are not equipped with hospital-level air filtration.

“The Carrier negative air machine fills a significant need in these critical situations when it is necessary to create a negative offset in temporary facilities,” said Mark Schwartz, Director of Facilities at the University of Rochester Medical Center, which trialed the machine. “As the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow, facilities must expand their capacity to treat patients in spaces that typically do not have the same air handling capabilities as hospital rooms, which are specifically designed for treating airborne infectious diseases. Solutions from Carrier like the OptiClean are necessary to effectively remove contaminants from the air, create negative pressure within the patient care space while protecting the adjacent areas, and slowing the spread of the disease.”