RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN)– The North Carolina State Agriculture Department spent a half million dollars of federal funds for COVID-19 relief at the State Fair Fairgrounds, and CBS 17 wanted to know how that money was used.
More than a half dozen buildings at the State Fairgrounds now have a sign attached to them that states that air cleaning technology is now being used inside them.
One of the buildings is the Jim Graham building where State Fair manager Kent Yelverton took Consumer Investigator Steve Sbraccia to demonstrate how the air cleaning system works.
He stood next to one of several, huge floor-level vents that are part of the HVAC system.
“If I’m standing here and I breathe out, that is pulling air into the system,” Yelverton said. “It goes up and is mixed with fresh air and continues along the duct work.”
Attached to the duct is a small device, which creates ions using a process known as needlepoint bipolar ionization.
The unit, manufactured by Global Plasma Solutions, creates ions in the air stream of the ventilation system.
Once in a room, the ions bond with pathogens like the COVID virus. That bonding disrupts the virus’s surface protein, thus rendering it inactive.
