Without making claims specific to the new coronavirus, Ocean State Shields LP says its product – a nontoxic spray-on liquid that disinfects surfaces, including flexible partitions – can kill microbes for up to a year.
The company is owned by CEO Allyson Cote and Chief Innovation Officer Todd Thomas and is based at Sprout CoWorking Providence in the Rising Sun Mills on Valley Street.
Cote, the co-founder of Maternova Inc., said the startup began in April, as she and Thomas watched with dismay the effects of COVID-19. They called their contacts and sourced a supply of a nontoxic, antimicrobial treatment, made by a company in Connecticut.
The main ingredient has U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval, she said. The company is seeking the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Sprout CoWorking spaces will have an application of the product soon. Ocean State Shields is securing agreements with other companies as well, Cote said.
“Right now, when you go into a restaurant, a convenience store, any place, people have put up these flexible barriers. What we’re doing is we have created a product that is treated with an antimicrobial that lasts for ... [up to a year] without losing its efficacy,” Cote said.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.