UKC

Thought this may be of interest to the hive mind.. 

https://www.abcwalls.co.uk/news/chalk-deactivates-the-virus-on-holds/

Well if this is true, I welcome this research just as walls are poised to open. Outside not so dangerous I imagine with our usual wet summers!

Well that really could be a game changer.

I think I'd wait for the peer reviewed paper to be published.

However it had occurred to me that it might be possible to mix something in with the chalk to help it destroy C19. Maybe the chalk does it itself although I struggle to understand how the magnesium carbonate interacts with the virus.

Trump: "is there a way we can inject chalk?"

Adding anything to chalk to kill covid  is somewhat of a scary thought, considering the amount of it that you breathe in in the air. If people at climbing centers think that chalk will make things safer then there will be even more of it floating about! (though I guess less people packed in=less chalk). 

Could the virus find it very hard to survive in a strongly alkaline environment, perhaps?

Really with all the chalk floating about at the climbing walls, the virus will be struggling to survive while airborne as well. Maybe the climbing wall is about the safest place one can be?

The virus seems to decay faster on porous surfaces, possibly the chalk adds a porous layer to plastic 
and non-porous rock.

Intuitively, chalk + alcohol = liquid chalk still seems like a good combination.

I would like to know what it is about the chalk that the researchers postulate kills the virus. Chemical effect? Drying effect? Something physical to do with grains/dust? Not all chalk is equal either. 

Polonium might work

...it would help reduce the stock piles of loo roll...

With all the chalk floating around at walls I would be more interested in the drying affects on our mucosal barriers which provides the natural protection against airborne infections, this and optimal dry, cold environments optimal of 'flu season' (and wall climbing conditions). 

I really feel for walls esp. the smaller but not optimistic about the future survival of many based on new imposed business models and change in the market...

Really disappointed that the ABC has not included the full story. The BMC statement on this subject rightly highlights that the study group was only 3, the actual covid virus was not used, and it has not been peer reviewed or formally published. This press release is being widely shared and people are rejoicing as it justifies their decision to return to indoor climbing. However, it is far from a comprehensive scientific study. Encouraging yes, but the headline is very misleading (in my opinion). 

The chalk on the holds doesn't matter when people can be infected from 8m away in cold moving air

https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/news-events/news/view/article/complete/sars...

*Rigs up snorkel attachment to chalk bag.

**Rings for ambulance moments later. 

Put all your black clothes into storage, forget bog roll, chalk will be the next panic buy and every surface will be coated in it. 

Absolutely, was being slightly tongue in cheek in my post there. I'm not convinced the climbing walls will be acceptably safe for some time, I don't think I'll be back at a wall any time this year for sure. It's a shame for the walls themselves, as they're great facilities going unused and no doubt losing money now. 

No shit: trade body siezes on non-peer-reviewed self-commissioned report which comes out in its favour.

There's a long history of such ascientific self-interest. Dont be gulled; exercise your own judgement until things have been satisfactorily proven.

The press notice has been issued in advance of the full report at a time when those who commissioned the research could materially benefit from the reported result.

This stinks, frankly.  Publish the report and then let's see what's what.

I have every sympathy with those who own and operate climbing walls who have been placed in a very difficult position indeed through no fault of their own, and with everyone that wants to get back to the wall or crags outside.  But by putting this press release out, drawing these conclusions and not having any information to support them in the public domain, still less anything peer-reviewed to a standard that a scientific publication would accept prior to release, the ABC is doing itself a good deal of reputational damage.  You should be better than this.

Withdraw the press release, rethink, rewrite and reissue.  

T.

Exactly! I do check my facts, however, sadly, it seems many people just read a headline and accept it as fact... 

Eactly. The ABC have really jumped the gun on this, presumably because they couldn't reconcile the regulation that says if you cannot effectively clean the equipment their customers use, they should not open. The release of this summary of a preliminary report that ISNT peer reviewed stinks of trying to push an agenda. I was glad to see the BMC distance themselves from these claims in their report by getting advice from a specialist. 

I need your power calculation, your software used and your parameters....

Is there any further news on this? 

Will Donald be suggesting we inject chalk? 

The way things are unravelling on Little Donnie Trumpington's social media currently (and his presidency in general...) we may not hear about it even if he did advocate chalk injection. Shame really! We'll miss his bungling, ill informed, scammed-like-a-senile-senior, fake-news, self-serving, lies for the sake of lies bullsh*t when he's dead and gone.*

*We won't  

We should encourage him to ingest it as a solution with water. Those that are old enough will remember buying boxes of magnesium carbonate from the chemists and getting strange looks as it was sold as a laxative

Seems the page linked to in the OP has been taken down.

Below is the text from the cached version. Also there was a link to a press release which is still active:

https://www.abcwalls.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Corona-Virus-and-Chalk-Press-...

July 24, 2020

At the start of the Corona Virus Crisis, the ABC (Association of British Climbing Walls) set up working groups to support climbing walls through the crisis. David and Robert Stevens from The Warehouse Climbing Wall, Gloucester approached Rich Emerson, ABC Chair as they had a relationship with a world leading research team in De Montfort University.  Rich spoke with Jeremy Wilson from The Lakeland Climbing Centre, leader of one of the ABC working group responsible for researching the science behind the virus and climbing.  We needed to undersand the potential impact of chalk on the virus as there were some concerns within the climbing community around how chalk on holds may act as a reservoir of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.   Between us, we commissioned the team at De Montfort University to undertake the research, led by Dr Katie Laird (Head of the Infectious Disease Research Group), Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar (Virologist) and Dr Lucy Owen (Postdoctoral Researcher). The team admit it was novel research and it took some time to set up the test method protocols.

A model coronavirus for SARS-CoV-2, human coronavirus OC43, was used for the experiments. The presence of infectious virus on a plastic surface dusted with chalk was monitored over the course of one hour. The results indicated that the amount of infectious virus was reduced by around 99% immediately upon contact with the chalky surfaces. By comparison, the control test where no chalk dust was present, showed only a slight decline in infectious virus over these time periods.

I hope that if the ABC has done the decent thing and stopped publicity around this, that someone would show themselves and say so and give the reasons why.

The ABC's reputation ain't worth much at the moment.  The way to improve that is for them to engage in an open dialogue with their customers about use of climbing walls in general and this issue in particular.  This site, this thread would be a good place to start that process.

T.

Surely you'd snort it? 

People have been doing it for years but normally with the addition of other compounds.

Considering the virus needs to be encapsulated in water droplets to survive, chalk is pretty much going to destroy it immediately isn’t it? 

Sadly, I have a tick in that box too. My mates mam was a pharmacist and used to bring the white powder home in bulk for us, bagged like flour. 

Do pharmacists still supply it? A kg bag, repackaged and branded as "fairy dust" could scam a few quid out of the gullible.

Oh, wait...