Bay Village Sea Scouts team conducting COVID-19 prevention experiment

Dr. Nick Gravino and CPCees members Jason Hartzell, Trey Kraska and Peter Sutherland. Photo by Richard Gash

In November, a study from Cardiff University in Cardiff, Wales, UK, presented promising signs that certain kinds of mouthwash kill the coronavirus within 30 seconds, helping to reduce transmission and slow the spread of the virus. The type of mouthwash that was included in the study is one that contains at least 0.07% cetypyridinium chloride (CPC).

After reading news articles about the results of this study from Wales, the Bay Village Sea Scouts team, properly called the CPCees, decided to conduct their own trial as part of a STEM competition – eCyberMission Challenge – to address a community concern. Their mission is to find out if the simple act of using this mouthwash does indeed help prevent the transmission and contracting of COVID-19.

The CPCees team consists of Peter Sutherland, Zach Graham, Jason Hartzell and Trey Kraska, led by Richard Gash. The team even reached out to the doctor who led the study, Dr. David Thomas at Cardiff University in Wales. Dr. Thomas responded positively to the boys’ study and is looking forward to learning their results.

The CPCees have asked friends, family, and neighbors to participate in the study, which simply means following the directions labeled on the mouthwash bottle in the morning or before leaving the house. On Dec. 4, the CPCees met with Bay Village dentist Dr. Nick Gravino to talk about how mouthwash works and how it is it thought to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Gravino explained that rinsing with the mouthwash for 30 seconds may help provide your body protection from contracting coronavirus for up to six hours. Furthermore, it is thought that if a person who is COVID-19 positive uses the mouthwash, and the amount of virus in their mouth is temporarily reduced, it will help prevent them from further spreading the disease to other people, as the virus lives in droplets in saliva. It is hoped that using this product will be another puzzle piece to slowing the spread of COVID-19 when combined with social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand washing.

The CPCees study will last about six weeks, and the boys plan to have results by mid-January. Participants are asked to report if they contracted COVID-19 while participating. The boys hope that indeed, none of the people participating will have contracted the disease. The father of Zach Graham – Scott – is a math teacher at Bay High School and he will help the team with a statistical analysis of the data collected.  

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Volume 12, Issue 24, Posted 9:55 AM, 12.15.2020