Fog Machines could save the gambling industry

Foggy table with casino gaming materials
Foggy table with casino gaming materials

Was the solution to reducing Covid-19 transmissions always as simple as a fancy magic show, with lights, mirrors and fog? The Grignard Company, based out of New Jersey, have received an emergency exemption for their fog-like solution to suppressing Covid-19 airborne transmission.

Grignard Pure, a a first-of-its-kind continuous antimicrobial air treatment sprays triethylene glycerol in the air, killing Covid-19 particles. While the liquid is used in all sorts of industrial manufacturing processes, you’ve most likely encountered it coming out of fog machines, like at a magic show, or maybe something more adult at the Las Vegas strip.

The EPA approved a request from Georgia and Tennessee for it’s use “as an additional tool in limited situations to aid in the fight against COVID-19.”

Ross Mollison, founder of Las Vegas-based company Spiegelworld and producer of variety shows, hope Nevada gets the same clearance. “It sounds like a miracle hair elixir, but the EPA is saying it works and it’s being tested in Broadway theaters,” Mollison said. “If it gets approval in Nevada, it has enormous applications, from malls to casino floors to places like ours.”

In their video pushing the product, Grignard notes it could help keep people safe during a lengthy vaccination process.

The CDC said at the outset of this [pandemic] that the rate of transmission is less likely in humid environments,” said Mollison. “Humidity pulls the virus [particles] to the ground. This actually kills it. And the really good thing about it is that it’s been approved for use with audiences for decades. It’s not like you’re putting some new chemical into the air.”

If early rollout indicates the product is successful in killing airborne Covid-19, it could be an easy-to-deploy way for casinos, restaurants and other previously-packed venues to reopened at full capacity well before an area reaches herd-immunity. Considering the underlying chemicals are already approved for use, and a bit of mist can’t be any worse than rows of plexiglass panels, it seems like a no-brainer.